GIFT   OF 
Olirer,    Virgil  k  Olga  Pausdlr) 


Oi^      <f-     (/ cu^ol 


/1S7 


COMPENDIUM 


H.   DE   BALZAC'S 

COMEDIE    HUMAINE 


COMPENDIUM 


H.   DE   BALZAC'S 

COMEDIE    HUMAINE 

...BY... 

A.  CERFBERR  and  J.  CHRISTOPHE 

WITH   AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

PAUL    BOURGET 


A    WORK  CROWNED  BY  THE  FRENCH  ACADEMY 


TRANSLATED   AND   EDITED  BY 

JNO.    RUDD,    B.A. 


^ 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  GEBBIE  PUBLISHING  CO.,  Ltd. 

1900 


Copyrighted,  1899,   by 
The  Gebbie  Publishing  Co.,  Limited 


INTRODUCTION. 


Are  you  a  confirmed  "  Balzacian  ?  "  as  was  before  asked  of 
"Young  France,"  the  day  following  the  apparition  of  that 
Rabelaisian  and  mystical  epic  poem  '*  The  Wild  Ass'  Skin." 

Have  you  experienced,  when  clandestinely  reading  at 
college  some  incomplete  volume  of  the  Comedie  Humaine,  a 
kind  of  exaltation  which  no  other  book  you  had  ever  ob- 
tained has  since  been  able  to  afford  you  ? 

Have  you  dreamed,  at  that  age  when  one  makes  his  vintage 
in  advance  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  life — again  in  bloom, 
yes — have  you  dreamed  of  being  Daniel  d'Arthez,  and  robed 
in  the  fame  and  power  of  his  works,  of  being  consoled  one 
day  for  all  the  sadness  of  youthful  poverty  by  the  sublime 
Diane,  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse,  Princesse  de  Cadignan  ? 

Or,  more  ambitious  and  less  literary,  have  you  longed  to 
see,  a  new  Rastignac,  the  portals  of  high  life  opened  before 
your  covetous  gaze  by  the  golden  key  dangling  on  Delphine 
de  Nucingen's  bracelet? 

Romancist,  have  you  sighed  for  the  angelic  tenderness  of  a 
Henriette  de  Mortsauf  and  savored  in  dreams  the  innocent 
emotions  of  the  freshly  gathered  bouquets,  listened  to  the 
griefs,  felt  the  furtive  pressing  of  the  hands,  by  the  banks  of  a 
blue  and  lazy  narrow  river,  in  a  valley  where  your  love  would 
be  candid  and  trembling  as  the  lily — that  ideally  chaste 
flower? 

Melancholic,  have  you  caressed  a  chimera,  when  the  sombre 
hours  of  old  age  have  begun,  of  a  friendship  equal  to  that  of 
the  brave  Schmucke,  who  was  enveloped  in  all  the  manias  of 
his  poor  Pons? 

Have  you  thought  of  the  sovereign  power  of  secret  societies 
and  deliberated  with  yourself  which,  amongst  all  your  com- 
panions, was  worthy  of  entering  into  "  The  Thirteen  "  ? 

(V) 


iM306387 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

Is  not  the  map  of  France  spread  out  before  you,  distributed 
in  as  many  districts  as  the  number  of  romances  contained  in 
the  Comedie  Humaine?  At  Tours  are  represented  Birotteau, 
la  Gamard,  and  the  formidable  Abbe  Troubert ;  at  Douai, 
Claes;  Limoges,  Madame  Graslin  ;  Besan^on,  Savarus  and 
his  ruptured  love ;  Angouleme,  Rubempre  ;  Sancerre,  Madame 
de  la  Baudraye  ;  Alen^on,  that  touching  old  maid,  to  whom 
her  uncle,  the  Abbe  de  Sponde,  with  a  gentle  irony,  said : 
"You  are  too  ingenious,  Rose;  there  is  no  need  to  be  so 
ingenious  to  be  happy." 

Oh  !  the  sorcery  of  the  most  marvelous  magician  of  letters 
that  we  have  known  since  Shakespeare.  If  you  fall  under  his 
enchantments,  not  but  what  this  is  a  happiness,  here  is  a 
book  which  will  charm  you,  a  book  which  would  have  ravished 
Balzac  himself — for  Balzac  was  more  the  dupe  of  his  work  than 
his  most  fanatical  reader,  and  all  those  of  whom  he  dreamed 
had  to  him  a  civic  status.  This  volume,  of  nearly  six  hun- 
dred pages,  is  in  effect  the  civic  status  of  all  the  characters  in 
the  Comedie  Humaine,  of  whom  are  found,  detail  by  detail, 
the  smallest  adventures  of  those  heroes  who  pass  and  repass  in 
traversing  these  fifty  romances ;  by  which  is  rendered  you  in 
one  minute  the  emotions  formerly  experienced  in  reading 
such  and  such  of  his  masterpieces.  Speaking  modestly,  this 
is  a  sort  of  index  of  the  subjects  of  a  unique  style ;  an  index 
of  living  people. 

Well,  now  of  the  Balzacians  who  have  dreamed  of  compil- 
ing the  constitution  of  the  civic  status.  For  my  own  part,  I 
have  known  five  or  six  who  have  begun  this  singular  task. 
Not  to  cite  more  than  two  names  amongst  numerous  others, 
the  idea  of  this  vapory  fancy  entered  the  head  of  that  subtile 
and  delicate  observer,  M.  Henri  Meilhac,  and  that  of  the 
criminalisie  writer,  Emile  Gaboriau.  I  well  remember  my- 
self, amongst  the  papers  of  my  eighteenth  year,  having  some 
sheets  covered  with  notes  taken  with  the  same  intention.  But 
the  work  was  too  immense.     I   lacked  the  infinite  patience 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

which  needed  to  be  joined  to  an  inextinguishable  ardor  of 
enthusiasm.  The  two  faithful  followers  of  the  Master,  who 
have  unitedly  erected  this  monument  to  him,  would,  perhaps, 
have  been  unable  to  surmount  the  difficulties  of  the  enterprise 
if  they  had  not  supported  each  other  by  carrying  out  their 
work  in  common — M.  Christophe,  by  his  minuteness;  M. 
Cerfberr,  by  his  infallible  memory  and  his  passionate  faith  in 
the  genius  of  the  great  Honore — a  faith  which  enabled  him 
to  move  mountains  of  documents.  It  would  make  a  pretty 
chapter  of  literary  ana  to  write  the  history  of  this  collabora- 
tion. A  melancholy  chapter,  for  it  would  call  up  the  memory 
of  the  charming  man  who  first  approached  MM.  Cerfberr  and 
Christophe,  and  who  has  to  our  grief  died  since  that  time. 
He  was  called  Albert  AUenet,  and  was  the  chief  director  of 
a  valiant  little  review,  "la  Jeune  France"  he  found  the 
means  of  support  during  those  years  with  a  perseverance 
worthy  "A  Man  of  Business  "  of  the  Comedie  Humaine.  I 
can  still  see  him — fevered,  worn  out,  but  with  his  counte- 
nance always  animated  with  enthusiasm — accosting  me  in 
a  corridor  of  the  theatre  to  speak  to  me  of  the  project  formed 
by  M.  Cerfberr,  and  we  almost  both  together  discovered  that 
the  same  idea  had  occurred  to  M.  Ch.-istophe.  The  latter 
had  already  arranged  a  case  of  counters,  labels,  and  classifi- 
cations of  the  names  of  Balzac's  characters.  When  two  men 
meet  in  the  same  enterprise  as  compilers,  they  either  hate  each 
other  or  unite  their  efforts. 

Thanks  to  the  excellent  Allenet,  both  professed  Balzacians 
marvelously  understood  this.  Poor  Allenet !  It  was  but  a 
short  time  after  that  we  conveyed  to  the  cemetery,  on  a  sad 
afternoon  at  the  end  of  autumn,  the  one  whom  we  had  all 
known  and  loved.  He  is  dead  ;  so  also  is  that  other  Balzacian 
who  was  much  interested  in  this  work,  and  to  whom  the 
Comedie  Humaine  was  his  only  thought,  Honore  Granoux. 
He  was  a  Marseilles  merchant,  with  drawn  features  and 
already  a  great  sufterer,  when  I  first  knew  him ;  but  he  revived 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

as  he  spoke  of  Balzac ;  and  with  the  mysterious  veneration  of 
a  conspirator  he  pronounced  these  words:  "The  vicomte," 
designating  by  this  that  supreme  initiate  in  BalzacolatriCy 
the  incomparable  bibliophile  to  whom  we  devote  the  history 
of  the  works  of  the  romancier,  M.  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul.  *'The  vicomte  approves  or  disapproves" — this  was 
Granoux's  absolute  formula,  who  was  himself  consecrated  to 
the  immense  labor  of  collecting  the  lesser  articles  published 
by  Balzac  since  the  first  appearance  of  his  writings.  And 
see  what  fascination  that  '*  devil  of  a  man" — as  Theophile 
Gautier  still  calls  him — exercised  over  his  disciples.  I  myself 
can  render  a  good  account  of  those  little  details  of  the  Balza- 
cian  mania,  such  an  one  as  would  tire  the  reader.  As  to 
myself,  I  have  found,  and  still  find,  nothing  more  natural  than 
the  words  of  Balzac  to  Jules  Sandeau  when  he  spoke  of  a 
sister  who  was  ill:  **  Return  to  reality.  Who  shall  Eugenie 
Grandet  marry  ? ' ' 

Fascination  !  this  is  the  only  word  to  characterize  the  kind 
of  influence  that  Balzac  exercised  over  those  who  truly  tasted, 
and  this  is  not  the  day  of  miracles.  Some  years  ago  Valles 
described  "the  victims  of  the  book,"  in  an  eloquent  page  of 
the  "  Refractaires. "  Sainte-Beuve,  little  suspected  of  par- 
tiality in  regard  to  the  editor-in-chief  of  "la  Revue  Par- 
isienne,"  tells  an  anecdote  more  peculiar  and  more  significant 
than  all  the  others : 

At  one  time  the  whole  of  a  society  which  had  met  together 
in  Venice,  the  most  aristocratic,  too,  advised  the  distribution 
amongst  its  divers  members  of  the  title  roles  of  the  Comedie 
Humaine,  and  certain  of  these  roles,  added  the  critic  myste- 
riously, were  fine  and  thoroughly  played  even  to  their  end. 
A  dangerous  experiment,  for  we  know  that  Balzac's  heroes 
and  heroines  often  coasted  the  most  dangerous  abysses  of  the 
social  hell.  This  took  place  about  1840.  We  are  now  near 
the  close  of  the  century,  and  the  witchcraft  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted.    The  work  to  which  these  notes  serve  as  an  intro- 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

duction  proves  this.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  remarked 
that  Balzac's  men  are,  the  same  in  literature  as  in  life,  appar- 
ently, much  more  numerous  since  the  death  of  the  romancist. 

Balzac  seems  to  have  less  observed  the  society  of  his  own 
times,  than  to  have  contributed  to  forming  one.  One  or 
another  of  his  characters  were  truer  to  life  in  i860  than  in 
1835.  When  the  acts  of  a  phenomenon  are  thus  given  and 
with  this  intensity,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  pronounce  them 
words  of  infatuation,  fashion,  or  mania.  The  seduction  of 
an  author  becomes  a  psychological  fact  of  capital  importance 
and  one  that  analysis  must  explain. 

I  think  I  can  see  two  reasons  for  this  particular  force  in 
Balzac's  genius.  One  resides  in  the  special  nature  of  his 
vision,  the  other  in  the  philosophical  calibre  which  he  has 
given  to  all  his  work.  It  was  this  vision  alone  that  sufficed 
to  point  out  the  need  of  this  Compendium.  Turn  over  a 
leaf  at  hazard,  and  calculate  the  quantity  of  imagined  facts 
in  supposing  these  two  thousand  biographies,  all  indi- 
vidual, each  distinct,  and  for  the  most  part  complete;  that 
is  to  say,  taking  the  personage  at  his  birth  and  not  leav- 
ing him  until  his  death.  Balzac  not  only  knew  the  date 
of  birth  and  death,  he  also  knew  what  the  spirit  of  the 
country  was  at  that  time,  of  the  province,  and  of  the  trade 
to  which  the  man  belonged.  He  was  informed  as  to  his 
taxes,  income,  and  his  state  of  culture.  He  was  not  ignorant 
that  Grandet  could  not  have  made  his  fortune  by  the  same 
process  that  Gobseck,  his  rival  in  avarice,  had  done;  or 
Ferdinand  du  Tillet,  the  jackal,  with  the  same  broad  methods 
as  that  elephant  de  Nucingen. 

He  is  authentic  and  he  measures  the  exact  revenue  of  the 
character  to  its  depths,  the  same  as  he  authenticates  and  meas- 
ures the  attachments  of  his  different  characters  between  each 
other;  so  well  that  every  individual  is  found  constituted  sepa- 
rately and  distinct  in  his  personal  and  social  reality,  and  the 
same  obtains  in  each  family  as  in  each  individual.     It  is  the 


X  INTRODUCTIO^t. 

skeleton  of  these  individuals  and  families  that  you  contem- 
plate in  these  notes  by  MM.  Cerfberr  and  Christophe;  but 
that  this  collection  of  facts  relies  one  on  the  other  by  a  logic 
equal  to  that  of  real  life  is  the  least  effort  of  Balzac's  genius. 
Does  a  certificate  of  birth,  a  marriage  settlement,  an  estate,  or 
a  fortune  represent  a  person  ?  Evidently  not.  It  needs  bones, 
flesh  and  blood,  the  muscles  and  the  nerves.  As  regards 
Balzac,  the  enumeration  of  these  facts  animated  him;  he  gave 
a  circumstantial  view  of  the  conditions  and  existence  of  his 
creations,  a  superadded  view  of  these  beings  themselves:  and 
at  first  sight  he  knew  them  physiologically.  The  history  of 
their  corporeal  machine  was  no  mystery  to  him.  Of  Birotteau's 
gout,  of  M.  de  Mortsauf  s  nervous  affection,  of  the  profound 
reasons  for  Flore's  possession  of  Rouget,  of  Louis  Lambert's 
catalepsy,  he  is  as  well  informed  as  a  physician ;  he  is  equally 
well  informed  as  a  confessor  as  to  the  spiritual  mechanism  which 
drives  this  animal  machine.  The  most  inconsiderable  frailty 
of  conscience  was  perceptible  to  him.  From  the  janitress  Cibot 
to  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  not  one  of  his  women  had  an  evil 
thought  that  he  could  not  penetrate.  With  what  art,  com- 
parable only  to  that  of  Stendhal  and  Laclos,  and  the  most 
subtile  analysts,  he  marks,  in  "The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of 
Cadignan,"  the  passing  from  comedy  to  sincerity.  He  knew 
when  a  sentiment  was  simple  and  when  it  was  complex; 
when  the  heart  was  the  dupe  of  the  mind,  of  the  senses.  Be- 
side this,  he  knew  the  language  of  his  characters,  he  distin- 
guished their  voices,  and  we  ourselves  can  distinguish  them  in 
the  dialogues.  Vautrin's  growling,  la  Gamard's  hissing,  Mme. 
de  Mortsauf  s  melodious  voice  which  lingered  in  the  ear. 
One  such  intensity  of  conjuration  is  as  communicative  as 
enthusiasm  or  panic.  There  is  abundant  testimony  to  prove 
that,  with  Balzac,  this  conjuration  is  mystically  accomplished, 
enfranchised,  as  it  were,  from  the  ordinary  laws  of  life.  See  in 
what  terms  Dr.  Fournier,  the  actual  mayor  of  Tours,*  narrates 

*  1896. 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

the  method  of  the  novelist's  working,  according  to  the  confi- 
dences of  a  servant  in  the  Sache  chateau: 

*'  Once  he  locked  himself  in  his  chamber,  and  there  re- 
mained many  days.  He  was  plunged  in  a  kind  of  ecstasy, 
and,  armed  with  a  crow's  quill,  he  wrote  night  and  day;  he 
abstained  from  food  and  contented  himself  with  decoctions 
of  coffee,  which  he  himself  prepared."* 

In  '*Facino  Cane"  this  phenomenon  is  found  described  as 
follows : 

"  One  passion  only  had  power  to  draw  me  from  my  studies; 
and  yet  what  was  that  passion  but  a  study  of  another  kind  ? 

I  used  to  watch  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  faubourg . 

Even  then  observation  had  come  to  be  an  instinct  with  me; 
a  faculty  of  penetrating  to  the  soul  without  neglecting  the 
body;  or,  rather,  a  power  of  grasping  external  details  so 
thoroughly  that  they  never  detained  me  for  a  moment,  and  at 
once  I  passed  through  and  beyond  them.  I  could  enter  into 
the  life  of  the  human  creatures  whom  I  watched,  just  as  the 
dervish  in  the  *  Arabian  Nights '  could  pass  into  any  soul  or 
body  after  pronouncing  a  certain  formula."  And  he  added, 
as  he  followed  the  workman  and  his  wife  down  the  street :  "I 
could  make  their  lives  mine,  I  felt  their  rags  on  my  back,  I 
walked  with  their  gaping  shoes  on  my  feet;  their  cravings, 
their  needs  had  all  passed  into  my  soul,  or  my  soul  had  passed 
into  theirs.     //  was  the  dream  of  a  waking  many 

One  day,  while  with  a  friend  watching  the  passers-by  upon 
the  boulevard,  he  saw  an  eatable  seller  passing;  his  friend  was 
stupefied  to  see  Balzac  touch  the  man's  sleeve  with  his  own 
hand ;  he  went  to  him,  took  up  a  piece,  broke  it,  smelt  of  it,  and 
passed  it  at  arm's  length  to  a  beggar.    Am  I  in  fault  in  making 

*  Dr.  Fournier's  pamphlet  on  the  statue  to  Balzac,  that  statue  to  the 
work  of  which  M.  Henry  Renault  so  ardently  devoted  himself— another 
devotee  who  founded  "  le  Balzac."  In  this  pamphlet  is  to  be  found  a 
good,  though  curious,  portrait  of  Balzac,  after  a  sepia  by  Louis  Bou- 
langer,  which  belongs  to  M.  the  Baron  Larrey. 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

clear  this  sort  of  imagination,  which  may  be  observed  among 
the  ecstatics  of  a  religious  order?  With  an  equal  gift  Balzac 
could  not  create,  like  Edgar  [Allan]  Poe,  and  give  one  night- 
mares. He  was  preserved  from  the  fantastical  by  another  gift 
which  seemed  contradictory  to  the  first.  This  visionary  was-  in 
reality  a  philosopher;  that  is  to  say,  an  amateur  in  manners  and 
general  ideas.  This  is  proven  by  his  biography.  We  can 
point  to  his  being  immersed,  during  his  college  years  at  Ven- 
dome,  in  the  folly  of  abstract  readings.  All  the  theological 
and  mystical  books  which  he  could  unearth  in  that  old  house 
of  the  Oratorians  were  absorbed  by  the  child  to  such  an  extent 
that  when  he  left  school,  ill,  his  brain  was  much  the  same  as 
if  it  had  been  under  the  influence  of  opium.  The  story  of 
"Louis  Lambert  "  is  a  monograph  of  his  own  intellect. 

During  his  youth  and  in  the  moments  taken  from  his 
profession,  how  did  he  occupy  himself?  Still  in  general 
ideas.  We  see  him  interested  in  the  quarrel  between  Geof- 
froy  Saint-Hillaire  and  Cuvier,  disturbed  by  the  hypothesis 
of  the  unity  of  creation ;  he  assumes  the  mystical,  and  in  fact 
his  novels  overflow  with  theories.  Not  one  of  his  works, 
but  what  extracts  abstract  thoughts  by  the  hundred. 

If  he  describes,  as  in  "The  Abbe  Birotteau,"  the  mis- 
fortunes of  an  old  celibate  priest,  he  profits  thereby  to  sketch 
a  theory  on  the  development  of  sensibility,  and  another 
theory  on  the  future  of  the  Catholic  Church.  If  he  describes, 
as  in  "The  Firm  of  Nucingen,"  a  supper  scene  amongst 
Parisian  biases^  he  introduces  a  philosopical  treatise  on  credit, 
on  the  revenue  of  banks,  and  the  possibilities  it  aff"ords — what 
shall  I  say  ? 

Speaking  of  Daniel  d' Arthez,  that  one  of  his  heroes  who,  with 
Albert  Savarus  and  Raphael,  most  resembles  himself,  he 
writes:  "Daniel  d' Arthez  would  not  allow  that  any  writer 
could  attain  to  a  preeminent  rank  without  a  profound  knowl- 
edge of  metaphysics.  He  was  engaged  in  ransacking  the 
spoils  of  ancient  and  modern  philosophy,  and  in  the  assimila- 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

tion  of  it  all ;  he  would  be  like  Moliere,  a  profound  philosopher 
first,  and  a  writer  of  comedies  afterward. ' '  Certain  readers 
even  estimate  that  philosophy  is  superabundant  in  Balzac,  the 
overfullness  of  hypotheses  generally  overflows  all  bounds,  and 
that  his  novels  constantly  increase  in  digressions.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  it  seems  indisputable  that  this  was  his  master 
{mattresse)  faculty,  the  virtue  and  vice  of  his  thoughts.  We 
see  now  by  what  singular  detours  this  power  of  generalization, 
— the  most  opposed,  pretend  some — gives  to  the  creative 
power,  and  augments  in  him  the  faculty  of  the  poetic  visionary. 

It  is  important  to  remark  in  the  first  place  that  this  power 
of  the  visionary  cannot  be  directly  exercised.  Balzac  had 
hardly  time  to  breathe.  The  list  of  his  works,  year  by  year, 
arranged  by  his  sister,  demonstrate  that,  from  his  advent 
into  fame  until  his  death,  he  never  took  the  leisure  to  rest 
himself;  he  regarded  all  about  him,  he  studied  men,  he  made 
himself  a  Moliere  and  Saint-Simon,  by  daily  and  familiar 
contact.  He  cut  his  life  in  two,  writing  at  night  and  sleep- 
ing in  the  day  ;  it  was  seldom  that  he  gave  an  hour  to  visit- 
ing, the  promenade,  or  love.  Indeed,  he  would  not  admit 
that  so  troublesome  love — what  he  did  in  that  way  was  at  a 
distance  and  by  letter:  '*soas  to  form  his  style."  This  in 
all  cases  was  what  he  most  complaisantly  practiced — it  being 
an  exception  to  find  any  trace  of  these  mysterious  intrigues  in 
his  correspondence. 

While  young,  he  had  the  same  system  of  forced  labor,  the 
kind  that  the  experience  of  this  master  in  literature  exacted 
was  reduced  to  a  miminum  ;  but  this  mimihum  sufficed  him, 
just  because  of  his  gift  of  philosophy,  which  he  possessed  in 
such  a  high  degree.  To  this  feeble  number  of  positive  gifts 
supplied  by  observation,  he  applied  an  analysis  so  intuitive, 
in  what  he  discovered,  behind  these  slender  facts  gathered  in 
small  quantities,  a  profound  generative  power,  as  it  were.  He 
himself,  and  always  referring  to  Daniel  d'Arthez,  described  in 
a  sketch  the  method  of  this  analytical  and  generalizing  work. 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

He  called  it  a  "  retrospective  penetration."  Truly  he  seized 
upon  the  gifts  of  his  experience  and  threw  them  into  the  cruci- 
ble of  reveries.  Thanks  to  an  alchemy  very  analogous  to 
Cuvier's  method,  the  smallest  detail  suffices  him  to  reconstruct 
the  whole  temperament,  and  an  individual  into  a  whole  class; 
but  in  this  labor  of  assignment  he  is  guided,  always  and 
above  all,  by  the  customary  proceedings  of  the  philosopher : 
that  searches  out  and  sees  the  cause. 

Thanks  to  this  research  this  thinker  has  defined  nearly  all  the 
great  principles  of  the  psychological  modifications  character- 
istic of  our  times.  He  saw  clearly  the  new  sentiments  that 
were  produced  by  the  transfer  of  classes,  the  one  to  the  other, 
by  the  installation  amongst  us  of  democracy  upon  the  ruins  of 
the  old  order  of  things.  He  has  included  every  complication 
of  heart  and  mind  in  the  modern  woman  by  an  intuition  of 
the  laws  which  are  imposed  on  her  development.  He  has 
divined  the  transformation  in  the  life  of  artists  due  to  the 
metamorphosis  of  the  national  situation;  and  the  picture  of 
journalism  that  he  traces  in  "A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris"  remains  a  very  truth.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  same 
power  of  vision  of  causes,  which  form  the  richest  ideas  in  his 
work,  is  done  by  magic.  While  other  novelists  write  of  the 
outside  of  humanity  for  us,  he  points  out  to  us  at  one  and  the 
same  time  both  the  outside  and  the  in. 

The  personages  who  gush  out  of  his  brain  are  supported  and 
carried  by  the  same  social  waves  that  support  and  carry  us. 
The  generative  facts  that  he  has  created  are  those  which  con- 
tinually minister  about  ourselves.  So  many  young  men  are 
supposed  to  be  models  of  Rastignac,  for  instance;  it  is  these 
passions  which  consume  the  ambitious  poor  of  our  age  of  un- 
bridled covetousness,  and  which  multiply  about  our  disin- 
herited youth.  Add  to  this  that  Balzac  was  not  content  to 
point  out  the  fertile  resources  of  the  modern  mind,  but  that 
he  has  turned  upon  it  the  sub-light  of  the  most  ardent  imagina- 
tion that  was  ever  known.     By  a  very  rare  happening  this 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

philosopher  was  also  a  man,  the  equal  of  the  story-tellers  of  the 
Orient,  to  which  his  solitude  and  his  over-excitation  of  nightly- 
labors  have  communicated  a  brilliant  and  continued  halluci- 
nation. He  has  been  able  to  impart  this  fever  to  his  readers, 
and  to  plunge  them  into  a  sort  of  **  Thousand  and  One 
Nights"  country,  where  every  passion  and  all  the  needs  of 
reality  appear,  but  amplified  almost  to  a  phantasmagoria,  like 
as  in  the  nightmares  of  laudanum  and  hashish.  How  is  it 
possible,  for  certain  readers,  to  understand  that  Balzac's  world 
has  more  of  life  than  the  other,  and  that,  as  a  consequence,  they 
should  model  their  activity  to  his  resemblance  ?  It  is  possible 
that  to-day  this  phenomenon  is  becoming  rarer,  and  that 
Balzac,  admired  as  much  as  ever,  does  not  exercise  the  same 
fascinating  influence.  They  hold  to  this,  that  the  great 
social  causes  which  he  has  defined  have  nearly  finished  their 
work;  that  other  forces  have  modified  the  new  generation  and 
have  prepared  other  shades  of  sensibility.  It  none  the  less 
remains  that  we  have  acquired — for  the  better  understanding 
of  all  the  central  portion  of  the  nineteenth-century  French — 
the  Comedie  Humaine,  which  must  be  read  and  re-read ;  and 
our  thanks  are  due  to  MM.  Cerfberr  and  Christophe  for  this 
Compendium.  Thanks  to  them  we  march  more  easily,  as  we 
traverse  the  painted  and  frescoed  long  galleries  of  that  enor- 
mous palace — but  unfinished,  for  we  lack  there  those  scenes  of 
military  life,  of  whose  titles  he  dreamed :  "A  marches  forcees  "  ; 
*'  La  Bataille  d'Austerlitz  "  ;  and  ''Apres  Dresde."  Certainly 
Tolstoi's  ''War  and  Peace"  is  an  admirable  book,  but  how 
can  we  fail  to  regret  the  non-painting  of  the  Grande  Armte 
and  our  great  Emperor  by  Balzac,  our  literary  Napoleon  ? 

Paul  Bourget. 


NOTE. 

The  reference  letters  following  the  titles  of  stories  are  in 
conformity  with  the  Index  on  pages  361  and  362  of  the 
volume  entitled  *'A  Prince  of  Bohemia"  in  Balzac's  Com6die 
Humaine. 


COMPENDIUM 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE 


HoNORE  DE  Balzac 


Abramko,  a  Polish  Jew  of  herculean  strength,  entirely 
devoted  to  the  broker  Elie  Magus,  by  whom  he  was  employed 
as  porter  and  to  guard,  with  the  aid  of  three  ferocious  dogs, 
his  daughter  and  his  treasures,  in  1844,  i"  an  old  mansion 
situated  on  the  causeway  of  Minimes,  near  by  the  Palais- 
Royal,  Paris.  Abramko  was  compromised  in  the  Polish  in- 
surrection and  Magus  interested  himself  in  saving  him  [Cousin 
Pons,  x]. 

Adele,  a  good  and  noble  Briarde,  in  the  employment  of 
Denis  Rogron  and  his  sister,  Sylvie,  from  1824  to  1827,  at 
Provins.  Contrary  to  her  mistress  she  showed  herself  full  of 
pity  and  sympathy  for  their  young  cousin,  Pierrette  Lorrain 
[Pierrette,  i]. 

Adele,  chambermaid  to  Madame  Val-Noble,  at  the  time 
when  she  was  kept  in  magnificent  style  by  Jacques  Falleix, 
the  stockbroker,  who  failed  in  business  in  1829  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  I^]. 

Adolphe,  a  little,  blonde  young  man,  was  clerk  for  Fritot, 
a  shawl  merchant,  Paris ;  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Bourse; 
in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe  [Gaudissart  II.,  n]. 

Adolphus,  head  of  the  banking  house  of  Adolphus  &  Co., 

w 


2  COMPENDIUM 

Manheim,  father  of  the  Baroness  Wilhelmine  d'Aldrigger 
[The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f  ]. 

Agathe,  Sister,  a  nun  of  the  convent  of  Chelles,  a  ref- 
ugee, under  the  Terror,  with  Sister  Martha  and  the  Abbe  de 
Marolles,  in  a  mean  house  of  the  Faubourg  Saint-Martin, 
Paris.  Sister  Agathe  was  nee  Langeais  [An  Episode  of  the 
Reign  of  Terror,  f]. 

Aiglemont,  General,  Marquis  Victor  d',  heir  of  the 
Marquis  d' Aiglemont  and  nephew  of  the  Countess  Listomere- 
Landon,  from  whom  he  inherited  her  dowry;  born  in  1783. 
After  being  the  friend  of  the  Marechale  de  Carigliano,  he 
espoused,  in  the  close  of  the  year  1813  (he  was  at  this  time 
the  youngest  and  one  of  the  most  brilliant  colonels  of  the 
French  cavalry),  Mile.  Julie  de  Chatillonest,  his  cousin,  with 
whom  he  lived  successively  at  Touraine,  Paris,  and  Versailles.* 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  supreme  struggle  of  the  Em- 
pire ;  but  the  Restoration  released  him  of  his  oath  to  Napo- 
leon and  he  had  restored  his  command  and  dignities  in  the 
Body  Guard,  in  which  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  general  and  was 
afterward  created  a  peer  of  France.  Little  by  little  he  neg- 
lected his  wife,  who  knew  that  he  was  intimate  with  Madame 
de  Serizy.  In  181 7,  a  daughter  (see  Helene  d' Aiglemont) 
was  born  to  him,  who  was  his  picture  morally  and  physically; 
his  three  last  children  came  into  the  world  during  the  time  of 
a  liaison  between  the  Marquise  d'Aiglemont  and  the  brilliant 
diplomatist  Charles  de  Vandenesse.  In  1827,  the  general, 
as  well  as  his  pupil  and  cousin,  Godefroid  de  Beaudenord, 
was  hurt  financially  by  the  fraudulent  bankruptcy  of  Baron 
de  Nucingen  ;  he  likewise  lost  a  million  francs  which  had 
been  placed  in  the  stock  of  the  Wortschin  Mines,  in  which  he 
had  speculated  after  hypothecating  his  wife's  fortune;  this 
caused   his  ruin.     He  then   left  for  America,  whence  he  re- 

*  The  residence  of  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont,  at  Versailles,  was,  it 
seems,  situated  at  No.  57  of  the  present  Paris  Avenue ;  it  was  until  re- 
^ntly  occupied  bjr  one  9f  tlje  compilers  of  this  work. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  3 

turned  six  years  later,  having  re-made  his  fortune.  The  Mar- 
quis d'Aiglemont  died,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  in  1835  [^^ 
the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t 
— A  Woman  of  Thirty,  H\ 

Aiglemont,  Generale,  Marquise  Julie  d',  wife  of  the  pre- 
ceding; born  in  1792.  A  wife  against  the  advice  of  her 
old  father,  M.  de  Chatillonest,  who  gave  her  in  marriage,  in 
1813,  to  the  engaging  Colonel  Victor  d'Aiglemont,  his  cousin. 
Her  disillusion  promptly  followed ;  struck  from  another  place  by 
an  ''inflammatory  complaint  not  infrequently  fatal,  and  spoken 
of  among  women  in  confidential  whispers,"  she  fell  into  a 
state  of  deep  melancholy.  The  death  of  the  Comtesse  de 
Listomere-Landon,  her  aunt  by  marriage,  the  privilege  of  her 
precious  counsel  was  denied  her.  In  the  meantime  she  be- 
came a  mother ;  by  the  sense  of  this  new  duty  she  was  enabled 
to  partially  resist  the  love  which  she  experienced  for  a  young 
and  romantic  Englishman,  Lord  Arthur  Ormond  Grenville, 
who  had  studied  medicine  and  the  care  and  cure  of  physical 
sufferings ;  and  who  died  to  avoid  compromising  her.  The 
marquise,  broken-hearted,  retired  to  the  solitude  of  an  old 
castle,  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  cheerless  and  arid  landscape, 
between  Moret  and  Montereau ;  for  nearly  a  twelvemonth 
she  remained  sunk  in  her  melancholy,  without  accepting  the 
consolations  of  religion  which  were  tendered  to  her  by  the 
old  cure  of  the  village  of  Saint-Lange;  then  she  reentered 
the  world  of  Paris.  There,  when  nearly  thirty,  she  yielded, 
touched  by  his  true  passion,  to  the  Marquis  de  Vandenesse. 
A  child,  named  Charles,  was  the  result  of  this  intimacy, 
but  he  soon  perished  under  tragic  circumstances.  Two  other 
children,  MoYna  and  Abel,  were  equally  the  result  of  this 
union  of  hearts ;  they  were  preferred  by  their  mother,  to  the 
detriment  of  the  two  first  born,  Helene  and  Gustave,  who 
really  belonged  to  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont.  Toward  the 
age  of  fifty  Madame  d'Aiglemont,  widowed,  and  not  having 
remaining  any   of  her   five   children  except    her  daughter, 


4  COMPENDIUM 

Moina,  sacrificed  the  whole  of  her  fortune  to  marry  her  to 
M.  de  Saint-Hereen,  who  was  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  houses  of  France.  She  then  went  to  live 
with  her  son-in-law  in  a  magnificent  hotel  bordering  on  the 
Esplanade  des  Invalides ;  but  her  daughter  made  little  response 
to  her  affection  :  she  was  annoyed  by  some  remarks  that 
Madame  d'Aiglemont  had  addressed  to  heron  the  compromis- 
ing assiduity  of  the  attentions  of  the  Marquis  de  Vandenesse. 
MoYna  went  one  day  so  far  as  to  recall  to  her  mother  the 
remembrance  of  her  culpable  relations  with  the  father  of 
the  young  man ;  the  poor  woman,  struck  from  this  source 
about  her  old  passion,  fell  unconscious,  suffering  from  heart 
disease,  and  died  of  this  stroke  in  1844  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  8\ 

Aiglemont,  Helene  d',  the  first-born  daughter  of  the 
Marquis  and  Marquise  Victor  d'Aiglemont;  born  in  181 7. 
Neglected  by  her  mother,  as  was  also  her  brother  Gustave,  for 
Charles,  Abel,  and  MoYna,  Helene  became  jealous  and  defiant ; 
at  about  eight  years  of  age,  in  a  fit  of  wild  hate,  she  pushed  her 
brother  Charles  into  the  Bievere,  where  he  was  drowned.  This 
crime  of  the  child  always  passed  for  a  terrible  accident.  Grown 
a  young  woman, Helene  ran  away  with  a  mysterious  adventurer, 
a  fugitive  from,  and  of  whom,  justice  was  on  his  track,  during 
the  time  that  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont  was  at  Versailles,  one 
of  the  nights  of  the  Noel  singing.  Her  father  despairingly 
searched  everywhere  in  vain  ;  he  only  saw  her  once  after  that, 
more  than  seven  years  later,  at  the  time  of  his  return  from 
America  to  France :  the  vessel  in  which  he  returned  was  cap- 
tured by  corsairs,  and  the  captain,  who  was  the  very  person 
who  had  abducted  Helene,  "The  Parisian,"  safeguarded 
the  marquis  and  his  fortune.  The  two  lovers  had  four  beau- 
tiful children  and  apparently  lived  together  in  perfect  happi- 
ness, partaking  of  all  dangers  alike;  Helene  refused  to  follow 
her  father.  In  1835,  some  months  after  the  death  of  her 
husband,  Madame  d'Aiglemont,  who  was  accompanying  her 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  5 

young  daughter  Moina  to  the  waters  of  the  Pyrenees,  was 
begged  to  give  help  to  a  poor  invalid  in  whom  she  recognized 
Helene.  She  had  just  escaped  from  a  shipwreck  and  been 
delivered  of  a  child :  both  presently  died  under  the  eyes  of 
Madame  d'Aiglemont  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\ 

Aiglemont,  Gustave  d',  second  child  of  the  Marquis 
Victor  d'Aiglemont,  born  under  the  Restoration.  He  ap- 
pears for  the  first  time,  when  quite  a  child,  in  1827  or  1828, 
prepossessing,  with  his  father  and  his  sister  Helene,  at  the 
representation  of  a  dismal  melodrama,  at  the  Gaite.  He  was 
compelled  to  retire  precipitately  from  the  spectacle  which  so 
agitated  Helene,  which  was  parallel  in  its  circumstances  to 
the  death  of  his  brother  Charles,  which  had  occurred  two  or 
three  years  before.  We  next  find  Gustave  d'Aiglemont,  in  the 
costume  of  the  Lyceum,  listening  to  the  Thousand  and  One 
Nights,  in  the  salon,  during  a  reunion  of  the  family  at  Ver- 
sailles, the  evening  of  the  carrying  off  of  Helene.  He  died 
young,  from  the  cholera,  leaving  the  widow  and  the  chil- 
dren she  loved  the  least  and  had  given  d'Aiglemont,  and  to 
whom  she  showed  little  affection  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  ^]. 

Aiglemont,  Charles  d',  third  child  of  the  Marquis  and 
Marquise  d'Aiglemont,  born  at  the  time  of  the  relations  be- 
tween Madame  d'Aiglemont  and  the  Marquis  de  Vandenesse. 
He  appears  but  once,  one  spring  morning  in  1824  or  1825,  at 
the  age  of  four,  in  a  promenade  on  the  Boulevard  des  Gobe- 
lins, with  his  sister  Helene,  his  mother,  and  the  Marquis  de 
Vandenesse.  Helene,  in  a  sudden  burst  of  jealous  hate, 
pushes  little  Charles  into  the  Bievere,  where  he  was  drowned 
[A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\ 

Aiglemont,  Moina  d',  the  fourth  child  and  second 
daughter  of  the  Marquis  and  Marquise  Victor  d'Aiglemont. 
See  Comtesse  de  Saint-Hereen  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  H\ 

Aiglemont,  Abel  d',  fifth  and  last  child  of  the  Marquis 
and  Marquise  Victor  d'Aiglemont,  born  during  the  intimacy 
of  his  mother  with  M.  de  Vandenesse.     He  was,  with  Moina. 


6  COMPENDIUM 

the  favorite  of  Madame  d' Aiglemont.    Killed  in  Africa,  before 
Constantine  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\ 

Ajuda-Pinto,  Marquis  Miguel  d',  Portuguese;  belong- 
ing to  a  very  ancient  and  immensely  wealthy  family,  of  which 
the  eldest  branch  was  connected  with  the  Bragance  and 
Grandlieu  families.  In  1819  he  was  accounted  as  being  one  of 
the  most  noted  men  of  fashion  in  Parisian  life.  At  this  time 
he  commenced  the  abandonment  of  Claire  de  Bourgogne, 
Vicomtesse  de  Beaus^ant,  with  whom  he  had  been  intimate 
for  three  years  past ;  after  having  deceived  her  as  to  his  real 
projects,  he  returned  her  letters  through  the  interposition  of 
Eugene  de  Rastignac  and  married  Berthe  de  Rochefide  [Father 
Goriot,  6r — The  Harlot's  Progress,  .T'].  In  1832  he  was  at  a 
soiree  given  by  Madame  d'Espard,  when  every  voice  with  one 
accord  joined  in  slandering  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan  in  the 
presence  of  Daniel  d'Arthez,  then  violently  smitten  by  her 
charms  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan ,  z\.  The  Mar- 
quis d' Ajuda-Pinto  was  a  widower  about  1840,  when  he  again 
was  married,  this  time  to  Mile.  Josephine  de  Grandlieu,  third 
daughter  of  the  last  duke  of  that  name.  Soon  afterward  the 
marquis  took  part  in  the  conspiracy  plotted  by  the  friends  of 
the  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu  and  Madame  de  Guenic  to  pluck 
Calyste  du  Guenic  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Marquise  de  Roche- 
fide  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Adjuda-Pinto,  Marquise  Berthe  d',  nee  Rochefide. 
Married  in  1820  to  the  Marquis  Miguel  d' Adjuda-Pinto.  She 
died  about  1840  [Beatrix,  'P\ 

Adjuda-Pinto,  Marquise  Josephine  d',  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Due  and  Duchesse  Ferdinand  de  Grandlieu, 
second  wife  of  the  Marquis  Miguel  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  his  relative 
by  marriage.  Their  marriage  took  place  about  1840  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  T"]. 

Alain,  Frederic,  born  about  1767.  He  was  head-clerk 
in  Bordin's  office,  procureur  at  Chatelet;  in  1798  he  lent 
one  hundred  crowns  in  gold  to  Mongenod,  his  friend  since 


CO  ME  DIE  HUMAINE.  7 

infancy ;  this  amount  not  having  been  returned  M.  Alain 
found  himself  pretty  nearly  ruined,  and  was  compelled  to  take 
a  situation  in  the  Mont-de-piete,  a  paltry  position,  which  he 
united  to  keeping  the  books  of  the  celebrated  perfumer  C^sar 
Birotteau.  In  1816,  Mongenod,  who  had  become  very  rich, 
forced  M.  Alain  to  accept  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
francs  for  the  hundred  crowns  that  he  had  loaned  him :  this 
excellent  man  then  consecrated  his  unexpected  fortune  to 
works  of  benevolence,  in  concert  with  Judge  Popinot ;  after- 
ward, beginning  in  1825,  he  became  one  of  the  most  active 
auxiliaries  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and  her  charitable  so- 
ciety. M.  Alain  initiated  Godefroid  into  the  Brotherhood  of 
Consolation  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Albertine,  chambermaid  to  Madame  de  Bargeton,  between 
the  years  1821  and  1824  [Lost  Illusions,  'N\ 

Albon,  Marquis  d',  councilor  to  the  Court  and  a  minis- 
terial deputy  under  the  Restoration;  born  in  1777.  In  the 
month  of  September,  1819,  he  was  hunting  in  the  borders  of 
the  forest  of  1' Isle-Adam,  with  his  friend  Philippe  de  Lucy, 
who  all  at  once  had  a  stroke  and  fell  unconscious ;  he  had 
seen  a  poor  maniac  in  whom  he  had  recognized  his  former 
mistress,  Stephanie  de  Vandieres.  The  Marquis  d'Albon, 
with  the  aid  of  two  promenaders,  M.  and  Mme.  de  Granville, 
brought  M.  de  Lucy  back  to  life ;  then  he  returned  at  his 
desire  to  Stephanie,  where  he  learned  from  the  uncle  of  this 
poor  creature  the  pitiful  story  of  the  love  of  his  friend  and  of 
Madame  de  Vandieres  [Farewell,  e]. 

Albrizzi,  Comtesse,  was,  at  Venice,  in  1820,  the  friend 
of  the  celebrated  melomaniac  Capraja  [Massimilla  Doni,//]. 

Aldrigger,  Jean-Baptiste,  Baron  d',  an  Alsatian,  born  in 
1764.  Banker  at  Strasbourg  in  1800,  at  the  height  of  his 
fortune  during  the  Revolution  ;  he  married,  for  ambition  and 
inclination,  the  heiress  of  Adolphus,  of  Manheim,  a  young 
lady  worshiped  by  all  his  family,  and  this  continued  for  six 
years.     Aldrigger,  whom  the  Emperor  had  created  baron,  was 


8  COMPENDIUM 

ruined  by  his  belief  in  that  great  man,  as  he  termed  him, 
about  I  Si  4  and  1815,  for  having  too  seriously  taken  "the 
Sun  of  Austerlitz. "  At  the  time  of  the  invasion  the  upright 
Alsatian  continued  to  pay  out  at  his  office  and  retired  from 
the  bank,  which  merited  this  saying  of  Nucingen,  "Honest, 
but  stoopid."  Baron  d'Aldrigger  and  his  household  came  to 
Paris ;  he  had  left  to  him  an  income  of  forty-four  thousand 
francs,  reduced  at  his  death,  in  1823,  by  more  than  one-half, 
in  consequence  of  his  wife's  carelessness.  He  left  a  widow 
and  two  daughters,  Malvina  and  Isaure  [The  Firm  of  Nucin- 
gen, q. 

Aldrigger,  Theodora-Marguerite-Wilhelmine,  Bar- 
ONNE  d',  7iee  Adolphus.  Daughter  of  the  banker  Adolphus, 
Manheim  ;  much  spoiled  by  both  her  father  and  mother ;  she 
married,  in  1800,  the  Strasbourg  banker,  Aldrigger,  who 
spoiled  her  equal  to  her  parents,  and  as  she  later  was  by  the 
two  daughters  she  had  after  her  marriage.  She  was  a  super- 
ficial woman,  incapable,  egoistical,  coquettish,  and  pretty ; 
at  forty  she  still  retained  all  her  freshness  and  could  still  have 
been  known  as  "  the  Little  Shepherdess  of  the  Alps."  When 
the  baron  was  buried,  in  1823,  she  did  not  attend  his  funeral, 
as  her  grief  was  so  violent ;  the  following  day,  at  breakfast, 
she  was  served  with  little  peas,  of  which  she  was  fond,  and 
these  little  peas  calmed  the  crisis.  She  resided  in  Paris,  on 
the  Rue  Joubert,  and  there  remained  until  the  marriage  of 
her  youngest  daughter  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

Aldrigger,  Malvina  d',  eldest  daughter  of  the  Baron  and 
Baronne  d'Aldrigger,  born  at  Strasbourg,  in  1801,  at  the  time 
of  the  greatest  opulence  of  the  family.  Queenly,  slender, 
darkly  fair,  she  was  an  excellent  representative  of  the  woman 
"you  have  seen  in  Barcelona."  Intelligent,  proud,  all  soul, 
all  sentiment,  all  expansive,  she  was,  nevertheless,  charmed 
by  the  arid  Ferdinand  du  Tillet,  who  had  at  one  time  sought 
to  marry  her,  but  they  afterward  became  estranged,  owing  to 
the  ruin  of  the  d'Aldriggers.     Desroches,    the  attorney,  also 


COMEDIE   BUMAINE.  9 

dreamed  of  asking  the  hand  of  Malvina,  but  he  alike  re- 
nounced his  intentions.  The  young  demoiselle  was  confiden- 
tially advised  by  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  who  expressed  himself 
as  wishing  to  see  her  married  ;  nevertheless  she  ended  as  an  old 
maid,  growing  plainer  day  by  day,  gave  lessons  on  the  piano, 
living  in  poverty  with  her  mother  in  a  modest  suite  of  rooms, 
on  the  third  floor,  in  the  Rue  du  Mont-Thabor  [The  Firm  of 
Nucingen,  t\ 

Aldrigger,  Isaure  d,'  the  second  daughter  of  the  Baron 
and  Baroness  d'Aldrigger ;  married  to  Godefroid  de  Beaude- 
nord.     See  that  name  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

Aline,  a  young  woman  of  Auvergne,  chambermaid  of 
Madame  Veronique  Graslin,  to  whom  she  was  devoted,  body 
and  soul.  Aline  was,  perhaps,  the  only  one  who  enjoyed  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  terrible  secrets  in  the  life  of  Madame 
Graslin  [The  Country  Parson,  JP]. 

AUegrain,*  Christophe-Gabriel,  French  sculptor,  born 
in  1 710.  At  Rome,  in  1758,  with  Vien  and  Lauterbourg, 
he  assisted  his  friend  Sarrasine  in  carrying  off  Zambinella, 
then  a  famous  singer :  this  prima  donna  {sic)  was  a  eunuch 
[Sarrasine,  dSf  II.]. 

Alphonse,  friend  of  the  ruined  orphan,  Charles  Grandet 
(retired  for  a  time  to  Saumur)  ;  in  1819  he  acquitted  himself 
well  on  a  mission  in  which  he  had  been  intrusted  by  that 
young  man  :  he  arranged  all  his  affairs  in  Paris ;  with  the 
result  of  one  little  sale  he  paid  off  all  his  remaining  indebted- 
ness [Eugenie  Grandet,  ^]. 

Al-Sartchild,  the  name  of  a  German  banking  firm,  in 
which  Gedeon  Brunner  was  compelled  to  deposit  the  money 
belonging  to  his  son  Frederic,  by  his  own  mother  [Cousin 
Pons,  oc]. 

Althor,   Jacob,   a  banker  in  Hamburg,  who  established 

*  In  reference  to  the  sculptor  Allegrain,  who  died  in  1795,  there  are  at 
this  time  in  the  Musee  du  Louvre,  Paris,  the  following  works  by  him" 
"Narcisse,"  "  Diane,"  and  "  Venus  Entering  the  Bath." 


10  COMPENDIUM 

himself  in  Havre  in  1815.  He  had  a  son  whom,  in  1829, 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Mignon  wished  for  a  son-in-law 
[Modeste  Mignon,  Jil  ]. 

Althor,  Francisque,  son  of  Jacob  Althor.  Francisque 
was  the  dandy  of  Havre,  1829;  he  was  about  to  be  espoused 
to  Modeste  Mignon,  but  he  quickly  abandoned  his  fiancee  when 
he  learned  that  the  Mignons  were  ruined.  A  short  time  after 
he  espoused  the  eldest  Mademoiselle  Vilquin  [Modeste  Mig- 
non, J5C]. 

Amanda,  a  dressmaker  in  Paris,  under  the  reign  of  Louis- 
Philippe.  She  had,  among  the  rest  of  her  customers,  Mar- 
guerite Turquet,  alias  Malaga,  who  was  **  bad  pay  "  [A  Man 
of  Business,  V\. 

Amaury,  Madame,  who  owned  a  pavilion  at  Sanvic,  near 
Ingouville,  in  1829,  the  one  which  Canalis  hired  when  he 
went  to  Havre  to  study  Mademoiselle  Mignon  [Modeste  Mig- 
non, jK^]. 

Ambermesnil,  Comtesse  de  l',  born  in  1819;  when 
about  thirty-six  years  old  she  engaged  to  board  with  old  Mad- 
ame Vauquer,  nee  Constans,  in  the  Rue  Neuve  Sainte-Gene- 
vieve,*  Paris.  Madame  de  I'Ambermesnil  [Father  Goriot,  6r] 
said  she  was  awaiting  the  end  of  the  settlement  of  a  regular 
pension  which  was  due  her  as  the  widow  of  a  general  dead 
on  "the  field  of  battle."  Madame  Vauquer  surrounded  her 
with  care  and  attention  and  confided  all  her  affairs  to  her. 
In  about  six  months'  time  the  countess  disappeared  without 
paying  her  bill.  Madame  Vauquer  searched  for  her  with  much 
keenness,  but  she  never  anywhere  in  Paris  found  any  trace  of 
this  adventuress. 

Amedee,  a  name  invented  by  Lady  Dudley  and  applied 
to  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  and  to  whom  it  ever  stuck,  at  the 
time  when  she  found  she  had  a  rival  in  Madame  de  Mortsauf 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Anchise,  Father,  a  surname  given  by  La  Palferine  to  a 
*  Now  the  Rue  Tournefort. 


comAdie  HUMAINB.  11 

little  Savoyard  ten  years  old,  who  served  him  for  nothing. 
*'I  have  never  seen  such  a  mixture  of  besotted  foolishness 
with  great  intelligence,"  was  said  of  that  child  by  the  Prince 
of  Bohemia  ;  *'  he  understands  everything,  and  yet  he  cannot 
grasp  the  fact  that  I  can  do  nothing  for  him"  [A  Prince  of 
Bohemia,  JP^]. 

Ancre,  Marechal  d',  who  had  been  good  to  the  Due  de 
Nivron  [The  Hated  Son,  z\. 

Angard,  at  Paris,  in  1840,  the  "professor"  Angard  was 
in  consultation  with  Doctors  Bianchon  and  Larabit,  over 
Madame  Hector  Hulot,  whom  they  were  afraid  would  lose 
her  reason  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Angelique,  Sister,  a  nun  in  the  convent  of  Carmellites, 
at  Blois,  under  Louis  XVIIL;  so  remarkably  skinny  as  to  be 
famous;  she  was  acquainted  with  Renee  de  I'Estorade  (Mad- 
ame de  Maucombe)  and  with  Louise  de  Chaulieu  (Madame 
Marie  Gaston),  who  were  educated  in  this  convent  [Letters  of 
Two  Brides,  v\. 

Anicette,  chambermaid  of  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  in 
1839.  So  nice,  smart,  and  pretty  that  the  sub-prefect  of 
Arcis-sur-Aube,  Maxime  de  Trailles,  and  Madame  Beauvisage, 
the  wife  of  the  mayor,  endeavored,  each  for  their  own  party, 
to  bribe  and  employ  her  to  the  benefit  of  the  different  candi- 
dates for  deputy  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Z>X>]. 

Annette,  the  first  name  of  a  young  woman  of  the  Parisian 
world  under  the  Restoration.  She  had  been  carried  to 
Ecouen,  where  she  had  received  practical  advice  from  Madame 
Campan,  mistress  of  Charles  Grandet,  before  the  death  of  the 
father  of  that  young  man.  Toward  the  end  of  1819,  a  victim 
of  suspicions,  it  became  necessary  that  she  should  sacrifice  her 
happiness  for  a  time.  She  lived  unhappily  with  her  husband 
in  Ecosse.  She  made  her  lover  effeminate  and  materialized 
his  love  ;  they  took  counsel  together  of  all  happenings ;  on  his 
return  from  the  Indies,  in  1827,  she  quickly  caused  an  en- 


12  COMPENDIUM 

gagement  for  him  to  marry  Mademoiselle  d'Aubrion  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  jE^]. 

Annette,  a  servant  in  the  household  of  Rigou,  at  Blaiigy, 
Bourgogne.  In  1823  she  was  nineteen  years  old  and  was, 
during  more  than  three  years,  in  this  place,  although  Gregoire 
Rigou  never  kept  a  servant  beyond  that  length  of  time,  though 
all  were  the  recipients  of  his  favor.  Annette,  sweet,  fair,  deli- 
cate, a  real  chef-d^ osuvre  of  loveliness — chic  and  piquant, 
crowned  with  the  dignity  of  a  duchess,  gained  no  more  than 
thirty  francs  per  annum.  She  kept  company  with  Jean-Louis 
Tonsard,  of  which  her  master,  without  a  doubt,  knew  nothing. 
Her  ambition  suggested  to  this  young  lady  the  using  of  flat- 
tery as  a  means  of  deluding  that  lynx  [The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Anselme,  a  Jesuit  of  the  Rue  des  Postes,*  a  distinguished 
mathematician,  intimate  with  Felix  Phellion,  whose  inten- 
tions were  to  convert  him  to  the  practice  of  religion  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ce\. 

Antoine,  born  in  the  village  of  Echelles,  Savoy.  In  1824 
he  was  the  oldest  messenger  in  the  office  of  the  Minister  of 
Finance,  where  he  also  installed  in  a  similar  but  more  modest 
position  two  of  his  nephews,  Laurent  and  Gabriel,  who  each 
married  clever  lace-workers.  Antoine  fought  against  every 
movement  of  the  administration  ;  he  elbowed,  judged,  grum- 
bled at,  and  fawned  upon  Clement  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx, 
Ernest  de  la  Briere,  La  Billardiere,  Benjamin  de  la  Billardiere, 
Xavier  Rabourdin,  Isidore  Baudoyer,  du  Bruel  (Cursy),  Jean- 
Jacques  Bixiou,  Godard,  Phellion,  Clergeot,  Colleville,  Thuil- 
lier,  Paulmier,  Vimeux,  Frangois  Minard,  Sebastien  de  la 
Roche,  Fleury,  Saillard,  the  two  Poirets.  He  doubtless  lived 
with  his  nephews  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Antoine,  an  old  domestic  in  the  service  of  the  Marquise 
Beatrix  de  Rochefide,  1840,  on  the  Rue  de  Chartres-du- 
Roule,  near  Monceau  Park,  Paris  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Antonia.     See  Chocardelle,  Mademoiselle. 
*  Now  the  Rue  Lhomond. 


COMiDIE   nUMAINE.  13 

Aquilina,  a  courtesan  in  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  and 
the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe.  She  said  she  was  a  Piedmontese  ; 
her  real  name  was  unknown  ;  she  had  borrowed  this  name 
{nom  de  guerre)  from  one  of  the  characters  in  Otway's 
tragedy  of"  Venice  Preserved,"  which  she  had  read  by  chance. 
At  sixteen,  pure  and  beautiful,  the  time  of  her  being  thrown 
into  prostitution,  she  had  encountered  Castanier,  Nucingen's 
cashier ;  he  resolved  to  preserve  her  frbm  vice  to  his  own  good 
and  lived  maritally  with  her,  on  the  Rue  Richer.  Aquilina 
then  took  the  name  of  Madame  de  la  Garde.  At  the  time 
she  was  Castanier's,  she  was  in  love  with  a  certain  Leon,  a 
sub-lieutenant  in  an  infantry  regiment,  who  was  none  other 
than  one  of  the  sergeants  of  Rochelle,  executed  in  the  Place 
de  Greve,  in  1822.  Under  Louis  XIIL,  previous  to  this 
execution,  she  was  present  one  evening,  at  the  Gymnase, 
where  she  laughed  consumedly  at  the  comic  Perlet  in  "  le 
Comedien  d'Etampes,"  during  which  joyful  spectacle  Casta- 
nier was  persecuted  by  Melmoth,  who  travestied  it  with  the 
appearance  of  an  awful  drama  in  its  place  [Melmoth  Recon- 
ciled, d\  After  that  she  appears  in  a  famous  orgy  with 
Frederic  Taillefer,  Rue  Joubert,  in  the  company  of  Emile 
Blondet,  de  Rastignac,  Bixiou,  and  Raphael  de  Valentin. 
She  was  a  fine  girl,  well  proportioned,  of  superb  deportment, 
and  of  a  physiognomy  characteristic  in  its  irregularity ;  her 
eyes  and  smile  startled  one's  thoughts ;  she  always  placed  some 
scarlet  gewgaws  on  her  attire  in  memory  of  her  lover  who  had 
been  executed  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  J[]. 

Arcos,  CoMTE  d',  a  Spanish  grandee;  he  lived  in  the 
Peninsular  at  the  time  of  Napoleon  L's  expedition.  He 
would,  perhaps,  have  espoused  Maria-Pepita-Juana  Marana 
de  Mancini,  but  for  the  singular  circumstances  that  caused  her 
to  wed  Francois  Diard,  a  French  officer  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Argaiolo,  Due  d',  an  Italian,  very  wealthy  and  of  high 
lineage,  the  respected  husband,  although  old,  of  her  who  was 
later  the  Duchesse  de  Rhetore,   to  the  everlasting  grief  of 


14  COMPENDIUM 

Albert  Savarus.     He  died   in  1835,  at  about  eighty  years  of 
age  [Albert  Savaron,  /], 

Argaiolo,  Duchesse  d*,  nee  Soderini,  wife  of  the  Due 
d'Argaiolo.  Became  a  widow  in  1835  ;  she  afterward  married 
the  Due  de  Rhetore  [Albert  Savaron,  /].  See  Duchesse  de 
Rhetore. 

Arrachelaine,  the  cognomen  of  the  robber  Ruffard — 
which  see  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^]. 

Arthez,  Daniel  d',  one  of  the  most  celebrated  writers  of 
the  nineteenth  century  and  one  of  those  rare  men  who  offer 
''both  a  beautiful  genius  and  a  beautiful  character  in  one." 
Born  in  1794  or  1796;  a  gentleman  ofPicardy.  In  1821,  when 
about  twenty-five,  he  was  very  poor  and  lived  on  the  fifth 
floor  of  a  gloomy  house  on  the  Rue  des  Quatre-Vents,  Paris, 
where  also  had  dwelt,  in  his  early  manhood,  the  famous 
surgeon,  Desplein.  There  he  became  intimate  with  Horace 
Bianchon,  then  resident  at  I'Hotel-Dieu;  Leon  Giraud,  the 
profound  philosopher ;  Joseph  Bridau,  the  painter,  who  later 
became  famous ;  Fulgence  Ridal,  a  comic  poet  of  great  pluck ; 
Meyraux,  an  eminent  physiologist,  who  died  while  young; 
Louis  Lambert,  and  Michel  Chrestien,  the  Federalist  Republi- 
can, who  both  died  in  their  bloom.  To  these  men  of  heart 
and  genius  came  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  the  poet,  introduced  by 
Daniel  d'Arthez,  who  was  looked  upon  by  them  as  their  head. 
This  society  was  known  by  the  name  of  the  ''  Cenacle."  Arthez 
and  his  friends  counseled  and  succored,  when  in  need,  Lucien, 
**  that  Great  Man  of  the  Provinces  at  Paris,"  who  ended 
tragically.  The  same  Arthez,  with  remarkable  disinterested- 
ness, corrected  and  revised  "The  Archer  of  Charles  IX.," 
by  Lucien,  and  the  work  in  his  hands  became  a  magnificent 
book.  Arthez  was  again,  through  affection,  intimate  with 
Marie  Gaston,  a  young  poet  of  his  style  but  "effeminate." 
Arthez  was  dark  complexioned,  with  long  brown  hair,  short 
in  statue,  and  had  a  resemblance  to  Bonaparte.  Very  sober, 
very  chaste^  drinking  only  water,  for  a  long  time  he  took  his 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  15 

meals  at  Flicoteaux's,  a  rival  of  Rousseau's  ''  I'Aquatique,'* 
in  the  Latin  quarter.  In  1832  he  had  become  famous;  he 
possessed  an  income  of  thirty  thousand  francs,  bequeathed  to 
him  by  an  uncle, when  he  had  become  the  prey  of  a  rigorous 
poverty;  all  that  he  had  written  was  wrapped  in  obscurity. 
Arthez  then  dv/elt  in  a  pretty  house  of  his  own,  on  the  Rue  Belle- 
fond,  where  he  lived  very  differently  than  in  the  time  of  his 
labor  in  adversity.  He  was  a  deputy,  taking  his  seat  on  the 
Right  benches,  and  standing  on  the  Royalist  platform  of 
Divine  right.  When  he  had  acquired  ease  he  had  a  most 
vulgar  and  incomprehensible  liaison  with  a  woman  who  was 
beautiful  enough  but  of  an  inferior  class,  without  any  learning 
and  without  style.  Arthez  kept  her  in  ease,  carefully  hidden 
away  from  all  observation  ;  but  far  from  being  a  delightful 
habit,  it  had  become  insupportable  to  him.  It  was  then  that 
he  was  invited  to  the  house  of  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse,  Prin- 
cesse  de  Cadignan,  aged  about  thirty-six,  and  till  then  unac- 
quainted with  each  other.  That  celebrated  "  great  coquette  " 
told  him  her  past  '^secrets,"  and  he  offered  to  absolve  them 
all  when  they  were  narrated,  "great  simpleton,"  and  he  be- 
came her  lover.  Since  that  day  there  has  never  been  any 
question  as  to  the  relations  existing  between  the  princess  and 
d'Arthez;  this  great  writer,  whose  writings  now  come  very 
rarely  into  publication,  also  appeared  but  seldom  in  the 
winter  months  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  iHf— Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v — The  Dep- 
uty for  Arcis,  J)D — Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^. 

Asia  (Asie),  one  of  the  pseudonyms  of  Jacqueline  Collin. 
See  that  name  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  TJ. 

Astaroth.  This  was  the  name  of  a  toad  which  was  used 
by  Madame  Fontaine  in  her  divinations,  picking  out  cards, 
on  the  Rue-du-Temple,  Paris,  under  Louis-Philippe.  This 
batrachian  was  of  enormous  size,  with  eyes  of  topaz  as  large 
as  fifty-centime  pieces;  Sylvestre-Palafox  Gazonal  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  by  them  when  conducted  to  the  den  Qf 


16  COMPENDIUM 

the  sorceress  by  his  cousin,  Leon  de  Lora,  flanked  by  Jean- 
Jacques  Bixiou.  Madame  Cibot,  a  concierge  on  the  Rue  de 
Nornnandie,  had  also  remarked  Astaroth  when,  with  a  design 
of  cupidity,  she  had  at  one  time  demanded  \.\\t  grand Jeu^  from 
Madame  Fontaine.  Its  end  came  in  1839  when  a  woman 
who  was  enceinte  was  so  affected  by  his  hideous  appearance 
that  she  nearly  died  and  was  brought  to  bed  of  a  dead  child 
[The  Unconscious  Mummers,  %i — Cousin  Pons,  QC — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  Diy\. 

Athalie,  a  female  cook  in  Madame  Schontz's  service  in 
1836.  She  possessed,  to  the  delight  of  her  mistress,  a  special 
talent  for  dressing  and  cooking  venison  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 

Aubrion,  Marquis  d',  a  gentleman-in-ordinary  of  the 
bedchamber  under  Charles  X.  He  was  of  the  House  d'Au- 
brion  de  Buch,  the  head  of  which  had  died  previous  to  1789. 
He  was  foolish  enough  to  marry  a  stylish  woman  when  he 
was  already  an  old  man  and  his  income  had  become  reduced 
to  twenty  thousand  francs,  a  sum  hardly  enough  for  him  to 
live  as  befitted  one  of  the  noblesse  in  Paris  ;  he  sought  to 
marry  his  portionless  daughter  to  some  drunken  nobleman. 
In  1827,  according  to  the  statement  of  Madame  d'Aubrion, 
this  ancient  wreck  passionately  adored  the  Duchesse  de  Chau- 
lieu  [Eugenie  Grandet,  JEJ]. 

Aubrion,  Marquise  d',  wife  of  the  preceding,  born  in 
1789.  The  Marquise  d' Aubrion  was  still  beautiful  at  thirty- 
eight,  and  with  considerable  pretensions  endeavored,  in  1827, 
to  make  a  captive,  by  every  means  in  her  power,  of  Charles 
Grandet,  on  his  return  from  India,  to  become  a  son-in-law 
and  in  which  she  was  successful  [Eugenie  Grandet,  J^]. 

Aubrion,  Mathilde  d',  daughter  of  the  Marquis  and  Mar- 
quise d' Aubrion,  born  in  1808,  married  to  Charles  Grandet. 
See  Grandet,  Charles. 

Aubrion,  Comte  d'.     This  is  the  title  of  Charles  Grandet 


* 


High  play. 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  .  17 

after  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the  Marquis  d'Aubrion 
[The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  #]. 

Auffray,  a  grocer  at  Provins  in  the  times  of  Louis  XV., 
Louis  XVL,  and  of  the  Revolution.  Married  first  at  eighteen, 
M.  Auffray  had  contracted  a  second  marriage  at  sixty-nine 
years  of  age.  By  the  first  he  had  issue  of  a  daughter  who  was 
exceedingly  homely,  who  was  married  at  sixteen  to  an  inn- 
keeper at  Provins,  named  Rogron  ;  by  the  second  union  he 
again  had  one  daughter,  but  this  one  was  very  charming ;  she 
married  a  Breton,  a  captain  in  the  Imperial  Guard.  The  old 
grocer,  Auffray,  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  under  the 
Empire,  without  having  had  time  in  which  to  make  his  will. 
The  inheritance  was  well  managed  by  Rogron,  the  deceased's 
first  son-in-law,  who  had  a  residue  of  next-to-nothing  to  give 
to  the  widow  of  the  good  man,  then  aged  only  thirty-eight 
years  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Auffray,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding.  See  Neraud, 
Madame. 

Auffray,  a  notary  at  Provins  in  1827.  Married  to  the 
third  daughter  of  Madame  Guenee  ;  great-grand-nephew  of 
the  old  grocer  Aufi'ray ;  the  appointed  guardian  of  Pierrette 
Lorrain.  Following  on  the  ill-treatment  to  which  this  young 
woman  became  subject  while  with  Denis  Rogron,  her  relative, 
she  was  removed  while  ill  to  the  notary  Auffray's,  who  was 
her  guardian,  and  she  there  died  surrounded  with  better  at- 
tentions [Pierrette,  i]. 

Auffray,  Madame,  nee  Guenee,  wife  of  the  preceding. 
Third  daughter  of  Madame  Guenee,  nee  Tiphaine.  She  was 
filled  with  kindness  for  Pierrette  Lorrain  and  took  great  care 
of  the  sick  one  until  she  was  taken  away  [Pierrette,  ^]. 

Auguste,  name  of  Boislaurier,  like  a  chief  of  ''brigands" 
in  the  rebellions  of  I'Ouest  under  the  Republic  and  under  the 
Empire  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Auguste,  valet  de  chambre  to  the  General,  Marquis  Ar- 
mand  de  Montriveau,  under  the  Restoration,  at  the  time  living: 
2 


18  .  COMPENDIUM 

at  the  residence  on  the  Rue  de  Seine,  by  the  Chamber  of 
Peers,  when  he  was  intimate  with  the  Duchesse  Antoinette  de 
Langeais  [The  Thirteen,  BB\ 

Aiiguste,  a  noted  assassin  who  was  executed  in  the  first 
years  of  the  Restoration.  He  kept  a  mistress,  surnamed  la 
Rousse,  to  whom  Jacques  Collin  had  faithfully  remitted,  in 
1819,  some  twenty  thousand  francs,  on  the  part  of  her  lover, 
after  his  execution.  This  woman  was  married,  in  182 1,  by  the 
sister  of  Jacques  Collin,  to  the  first  clerk  of  a  wealthy  whole- 
sale hardware  dealer;  although  she  had  reentered  a  regular  life 
she  remained  attached,  by  a  secret  arrangement,  to  the  terrible 
Vautrin  and  his  sister.  See  Madame  Prelard  [Vautrin's  Last 
Avatar,  if[. 

August,  Madame,  dressmaker  of  Esther  Gobseck's  and 
her  creditor  in  the  time  of  Louis  XVIIL  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, Z'l. 

Augustin,  valet  of  Monsieur  de  Serizy,  in  1822  [A  Start 
in  Life,  s\. 

Aurelie,  a  courtesan  in  Paris,  under  Louis-Philippe,  at 
the  time  when  Madame  Fabien  du  Ronceret  commenced  her 
career  of  gallantry  [Beatrix,  JP\ 

Aurelie,  La  petite  (the  little),  the  name  given  to  one  of 
the  gallants  of  Josephine  Schiltz,  who  was  also  Schontz, 
who  became  afterward  Madame  Fabien  du  Ronceret  [Bea- 
trix, :p\ 

Auvergnat,  L'.  One  of  the  aliases  of  the  malefactor 
Selerier,  also  known  as  Father  Ralleau,  le  Rouleur,  Fil-de- 
Soie  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;$;].     See  Selerier. 


Babylas,  a  groom  or  *' tiger"  of  Amedee  de  Sotilas',  in 
1834,  at  Besan^on ;  at  that  time  was  fourteen  years  old;  the 
son  of  one  of  his  master's  tenants.      He  earned  thirty-six 


CO  MED  IE   HUMAINE.  19 

francs  a  month  to  the  day  of  his  death,  but  he  was  smart  and 
clever  [Albert  Savaron, /*]. 

Baptiste,  valet  de  chambre  to  the  Duchesse  de  Lenon- 
court-Chaulieu,  in  1830  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Zi\ 

Barbanchu,  a  Bohemian,  with  a  peaked  cap,  called  in  to 
Vefour's,  by  the  journalists  who  ate  there  at  the  cost  of 
Jerome  Thuillier,  in  1840,  and  invited  by  them  to  come  there 
for  the  benefit  of  that  urbane  man ;  this  he  did  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Barbanti,  Les,  a  Corsican  family  who  had  reconciled  the 
Piombos  and  the  Portas,  in  1800  [The  Vendetta,  t]. 

Barbet.  A  dynasty  of  publishers — old  book  dealers — dis- 
count brokers,  at  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  and  Louis- 
Philippe.  They  were  Normans.  In  1821  and  following  years 
they  had  a  little  store  on  the  quay  Grands-Augustins  and 
bought  books  of  Lousteau.  In  1836,  one  Barbet  had  a  pub- 
lisher's office  in  partnership  with  Metivier  and  Morand;  he  was 
the  owner  of  a  mean  house  situated  on  the  Rue  Notre-Dame- 
des-Champs  and  the  Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnesse,  where 
Baron  Bourlac  dwelt  with  his  daughter  and  his  grandson. 
In  1840,  the  Barbets  were  regular  usurers  transacting  business 
under  the  credentials  of  the  firm  of  Cerizet  &  Co.  That 
same  year  a  Barbet  occupied,  in  a  house  which  Jerome  Thu- 
illier's  sister  owned,  an  apartment  on  the  second  floor  and  a 
store  on  the  first  floor,  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer  ;  * 
he  was  then  "  the  publisher-shark."  Barbet  junior,  nephew 
of  these  and  a  publisher  in  the  alley  of  the  Panoramas,  put  on 
sale  at  this  time  a  brochure  written  by  Th.  de  la  Peyrade,  but 
signed  by  Thuillier,  and  which  was  entitled  ''  On  Rent  and 
Taxes  "  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  Jf— The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T— The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Barbette,  wife  of  the  great  Cibot,  called  Galope-Chopine 
[The  Chouans,  J5].     See  Cibot,  Barbette. 

Barchon   de    Penhoen,    Auguste-Theodore-Hilaire, 

*  Now  named  the  Rue  Royer-Collard. 


20  COMPENDIUM 

born  at  Morlaix  (Finistere),  April  28,  1821,  died  at  Saint- 
Germain-en-Laye,  July  29,  1855.  A  schoolfellow  of  de  Balzac, 
Jules  Dufaure,  and  Louis  Lambert,  and  his  neighbor  in  the 
college  dormitory  at  Vendome  in  181 1.  Later  an  officer  and 
then  a  writer  on  the  higher  range  of  philosophy,  translator  of 
Fichte,  a  friend  of  Ballanche  and  an  expounder  of  his  theories. 
In  1849  ^^  ^^s  ^^"^^  envoy  of  his  compatriots  of  the  Finistere  to 
the  Legislative  Assembly,  wheje  he  represented  the  principles 
of  the  Legitimists  and  Catholics.  He  protested  against  the 
Coup  d' Eiat  of  December  2,  185 1.*  See  '*  The  History  of  a 
Crime,"  by  Victor  Hugo.  When  a  child  he  was  imbued 
with  skepticism.  He  never  possessed  the  abilities  of  Louis 
Lambert,  whom  he  had  also  for  a  schoolfellow  at  Vendome 
[Louis  Lambert,  iCr]. 

Bargeton,  De,  born  between  1761  and  1763.  Great- 
grandson  of  a  sheriff  of  Bordeaux  named  Mirault,  ennobled 
under  Louis  XHL,  and  whose  son  under  Louis  XIV.  became 
Mirault  de  Bargeton,  and  was  an  officer  in  the  Guards  de  la 
Porte.  He  was  the  owner  of  a  mansion  at  Angouleme,  on 
the  Rue  du  Minage,f  where  he  lived  with  his  wife,  Marie- 
Louise-Anais  de  Negrepelisse,  to  whom  he  gave  entire  sub- 
mission ;  for  she  instigated  him  to  challenge  a  visitor  of  her 
salon,  Stanislas  de  Chandour,  to  a  duel  for  circulating  calum- 
nious reports  about  Mme.  Bargeton  around  the  town.  He 
landed  a  bullet  in  the  neck  of  his  adversary.  His  father-in- 
law,  M.  de  Negrepelisse,  was  one  of  his  witnesses  in  this 
affair.  M.  de  Bargeton  after  this  retired  to  his  Escarbas 
estate,  near  Barbezieux,  while  his  wife,  as  a  consequence  of 
this  duel,  left  Angouleme  for  Paris.  M.  de  Bargeton  had 
been  a  strong  man  "  damaged  by  the  dissipations  of  youthful 
lusts."     He  was  an  insignificant  man,  but  a  great  glutton. 

*  Made  by  Louis-Napoleon,  afterward  Napoleon  III. 

f  It  is  to-day  still  known  by  this  name.  (This  note  is  made  by  M. 
Alb6ric  Second,  a  resident  of  Angouleme  and  a  most  competent  Bal- 
zacian.) 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  21 

He  died  of  indigestion  toward  the  end  of  1821  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, N\ 

Bargeton,  Madame  de,  nee  Marie-Louise-Anais  N^gre- 
PELissE,  wife  of  the  preceding,  whc?,  after  becoming  a  widow, 
was  married  to  the  Baron  Sixte  du  Chatelet.  See  Chatelet, 
Baroness  Sixte  du. 

Barillaud,  known  by  Frederic  Alain,  and  in  whom  he 
excited  mistrust  at  one  time  in  Mongenod  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T]. 

Barimore,  Lord  (an  Englishman),  son-in-law  of  old  Lord 
Dudley.  He  was  in  1839  the  same  age  as  he,  but  he  had  a 
passion  for  Lugia,  then  a  singer  at  the  Italian  opera  in  Lon- 
don [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>T>\ 

Barimore,  Ladv,  daughter  of  Lord  Dudley ;  it  was  a  great 
question  whether  or  not  she  was  the  wife  of  Lord  Barimore, 
all  signs  going  to  prove  that  she  was.  Soon  after  the  close 
of  1830  she  assisted  at  a  party  at  the  home  of  Mademoiselle 
des  Touches,  Rue  de  la  Chaussee-d'Antin,  where  de  Marsay 
recounted  the  story  of  his  first  love  [Another  Study  of 
Woman,  ?]. 

Barker,  William,  one  of  the  *•'  incarnations  "  of  Vautrin. 
Under  this  pseudonym,  in  1824  or  1S25,  he  figured  as  a 
creditor  of  M.  d'Estourny  and  induced  Cerizet  to  endorse 
his  notes  as  a  partner  of  M.  d'Estourny  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, Z\ 

Barnheim,  a  respectable  family  in  Bade  ;  the  family  of 
Madame  du  Ronceret,  on  the  maternal  side,  by  name  of 
Schiltz,  known  as  Schontz  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Barniol,  son-in-law  of  Phellion.  The  principal  of  an 
academy,  Rue  Saint-Hyacinthe-Saint-Michel,*  in  1840.  He 
was  a  man  of  importance  in  the  Faubourg  Saint-Jacques  ;  he 
frequented  the  Thuilliers'  salon  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Barniol,  Madame,  formerly  Phellion,  wife  of  the  forego- 
ing. She  had  been  assistant-governess  in  the  boarding-school 
*  Now  the  Rue  Le  GofF  and  Rue  Malebranche. 


22  COMPENDIUM 

of  the   Demoiselles   Lagrave,    Rue   Notre-Dame-des-Champs 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Barry,  John,  an  English  huntsman,  one  of  the  most  famous 
in  the  country  from  which  the  Prince  of  Loudon  brought 
him  to  employ  him  at  his  own  home.  He  was  with  this 
great  lord  in  1829-30  [Modeste  Mignon,  JL\ 

Bartas,  Adrien  de,  of  Angouleme.  In  182 1,  with  his 
wife,  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  Bargetons'  salon.  M. 
de  Bartas  filled  his  time  up  with  music  to  the  exclusion  of 
every  other  study ;  he  talked  about  music  and  about  nothing 
else,  and  always  looked  to  be  begged  to  sing  in  his  deep  bass 
voice.  He  passed  for  being  the  lover  of  Brebian,  the  wife  of 
his  best  friend  ;  it  is  true  that  after  this  chronic  scandal  M. 
de  Brebian  had  become  the  lover  of  Madame  de  Bartas  [Lost 
Illusions,  _^]. 

Bartas,  Madame  Josephine  de,  wife  of  the  preceding, 
always  called  Fifine,  on  account  of  her  Christian  name  [Lost 
Illusions,  JS^\ 

Bastienne,  a  milliner  of  Paris,  in  1821.  Finot's  news- 
paper cracked  up  her  hats,  for  cold  cash,  and  ran  down  those 
of  Virginie,  which  it  had  at  one  time  praised  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  M.\ 

Batailles,  The,  Parisians  of  the  middle-class,  merchants 
in  the  Marais,  neighbors  and  friends  of  the  Baudoyers  and 
Saillards,  in  1824.  M.  Bataille  was  a  captain  in  the  National 
Guard  and  did  not  allow  any  person  to  remain  in  ignorance 
of  that  fact  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Baudoyer,  Monsieur  and  Madame,  tanners  in  Paris, 
Rue  Censier.  They  owned  the  house  in  which  they  lived  and 
also  another  in  the  country  at  TIsle-Adam.  They  were  the 
father  and  mother  of  an  only  son,  Isidore;  whose  biography 
follows.  Mme.  Baudoyer,  nee  Mitral,  was  the  sister  of  the 
constable  by  that  name  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Baudoyer,  Isidore,  born  in  1788,  only  son  of  M.  and 
Mme.    Baudoyer,    tanners,    Rue  Censier,   Paris.     After   the 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  ^ 

completion  of  his  studies  he  entered  the  Bureau  of  Finance, 
and,  in  spite  of  his  notorious  incapacity  and  assisted  by  in- 
trigues, this  upstart  became  the  head  of  his  office.  In  1824, 
a  head  of  division,  M.  de  La  Billardiere,  happened  to  die ; 
the  intelligent  worker  Xavier  Rabourdin  aspired  to  the  suc- 
cession ;  he  had  to  withdraw  for  Isidore  Baudoyer,  who  had  at 
his  back  the  power  of  money  and  the  influence  of  the  church. 
He  did  not  long  hold  this  position  ;  six  months  after  being 
made  a  tax-collector  in  Paris.  Isidore  Baudoyer  lived  with 
his  wife  and  her  parents  at  a  hotel  on  the  Place  Royale,*  of 
which  they  were  joint  owners  [Les  Employes,  cc].  In  1840 
he  frequently  dined  with  Thuillier,  an  old  employe  in  the 
Bureau  of  Finance,  then  living  in  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer,  who  was  glad  to  renew  their  old  acquaintanceship 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee].  In  1845,  ^^is  man,  who  had 
always  been  a  model  husband  and  who  professed  religious 
sentiments,  kept  Heloise  Brisetout  as  his  mistress;  he  was  at 
that  time  the  mayor  of  the  arrondissement  of  the  Place  Royale 
[Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Baudoyer,  Madame,  wife  of  the  above  and  daughter  of  a 
cashier  in  the  ministry  of  finance ;  nee  Elisabeth  Saillard,  in 
1795.  ^^^  mother,  an  Auvergnate,  had  an  uncle,  Bidault, 
called  Gigonnet,  a  money  lender  by  the  'Mittle  week"  in  the 
Halles  quarter ;  on  the  other  side  the  mother  of  her  husband 
was  the  sister  of  Mitral,  the  tanner.  By  the  aid  of  these  two 
moneyed  men,  who  exercised  a  truly  enormous  power  in 
secret,  and,  thanks  to  his  devotion  in  his  relations  with  the 
clergy,  they  were  enabled  to  purchase  with  their  money,  out 
of  which  they  also  made  a  profit  for  them.selves,  the  assistance 
of  Clement  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  general  secretary  of  the 
Finance  Department  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Baudoyer,  Mademoiselle,  daughter  of  Isidore  Baudoyer 
and  Elisabeth  Saillard,  born  in  1812;  educated  by  her 
parents  to  become  the  w^ife  of  that  skillful  and  active  specu- 
*  Now  the  Place  des  Vosges. 


24  COMPENDIUM 

lator,  Martin  Falleix,  brother  of  James  Falleix,  the  stock- 
broker [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Baurand,  cashier  of  a  theatre  on  the  boulevard,  of  which 
Gaudissart  became  the  manager  about  1834.  He  was  replaced 
by  the  roustabout  Topinard  [Cousin  Pons,  qc\. 

Baudry,  Planat  de,  receiver-general  under  the  Restora- 
tion. He  was  married  to  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  Comte 
de  Fontaine ;  he  generally  passed  the  summer  at  Sceaux,  with 
most  of  his  family  and  his  wife  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  %i\. 

Bauvan,  Comte  de,  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Chouan 
insurrection  in  the  department  d'lUe-et-Vilaine,  1799.  By  a 
secret  communicated  by  him  to  the  Marquis  de  Montauran, 
his  friend,  on  the  part  of  Mademoiselle  de  Verneuil,  the 
Comte  de  Bauvan  indirectly  brought  about  the  massacre 
of  Bleus  at  Vivetiere.  Afterward,  surprised  by  an  ambus- 
cade of  Republican  soldiers,  he  was  made  prisoner  by  Mile, 
de  Verneuil,  who  changed  her  life;  he  afterward  became  very 
pious  and  assisted  as  a  witness  at  the  wedding  of  Mile.  Ver- 
neuil and  Montauran  [The  Chouans,  jB]. 

Bauvan,  Comtesse  de,  probably  the  wife  of  the  fore- 
going, whom  she  survived.  In  1822  she  is  found  as  the 
manager  of  a  lottery  office,  and  about  that  time  she  employed 
Mme.  Agathe  Bridau  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Bauvan,  Comte  and  Comtesse  de,  father  and  mother  of 
Octave  de  Bauvan.  Old  folk  of  the  old  Court,  living  in  an 
antiquated  mansion  on  the  Rue  Payenne,  Paris,  where  they 
died  about  1815,  within  a  few  months  of  each  other,  and 
prior  to  the  unfortunate  conjugal  troubles  of  their  son.  See 
Octave  de  Bauvan.  Probably  related  to  the  two  preceding 
[Honorine,  h\ 

Bauvan,  Comte  Octave  de,  statesman  and  French 
magistrate,  born  in  1787.  At  twenty-six  he  married  Hono- 
rine, a  young,  beautiful,  and  wealthy  girl,  who  had  been  raised 
under  the  eyes  of  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  Bauvan,  his 
father  and  mother,  and  of  whom  she  was  the  ward.     Two  or 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  25 

three  years  after  she  left  the  conjugal  roof,  to  the  great  despair 
of  the  count,  who  knew  no  other  care  than  how  to  regain 
her ;  he  was  successful  after  many  years  in  bringing  her  back 
home  by  pity  for  him,  but  she  died  soon  after  the  reconciliation, 
leaving  a  son  the  result  of  their  living  together.  Comte  de 
Bauvan  left,  in  despair,  for  Italy,  in  1836.  He  had  two  resi- 
dences in  Paris,  two  hotels,  one  on  the  Rue  Payenne  (his 
paternal  heritage) ;  the  other  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Honore, 
which  received  this  reconciled  household  [Honorine,  lz\. 
In  1S30  Comte  de  Bauvan,  then  president  of  the  court  of  cas- 
sation, together  with  MM.  de  Granville  and  de  Serizy,  tried  to 
shield  Lucien  de  Rubempre  from  a  criminal  judgment,  and, 
after  the  suicide  of  that  unfortunate,  they  followed  his  funeral 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  ^]. 

Bauvan,  Comtesse  Honorine  de,  wife  of  the  preceding. 
Born  in  1794.  Married  at  nineteen  to  Comte  Octave  de 
Bauvan  ;  after  deserting  her  husband  she  was  in  turn,  and 
while  enceinte,  deserted  by  her  lover,  some  eighteen  months 
afterward.  She  then  lived  a  most  retired  life  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Maur,  under  the  occult  supervision  of  the  Comte  de 
Bauvan,  who  bought  from  her  the  flowers  that  she  made  ;  she 
thought  it  a  small  task  to  work  for  her  own  livelihood. 
Honorine  de  Bauvan  lost  and  wept  over  all  her  adulterous  born 
children.  During  the  years  of  her  laborious  exile  in  a  suburb 
of  Paris,  she  came  successively  in  contact  with  Marie  Gobain, 
Jean-Jules  Popinot,  Felix  Gaudissart,  Maurice  de  I'Hostal, 
and  the  Abbe  Loraux  [Honorine,  lz\. 

Beaudenord,  Godefroid  de,  born  in  1800.  He  was  in 
1821,  with  Marsay,  Vandenesse,  Ajuda-Pinto,  Maxime  de 
Trailles,  Rastignac,  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  and  Maner- 
ville,  one  of  the  kings  of  fashion  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  JfT].  His  nobility  and  particules  were  not  perhaps 
very  authentic,  following  Mademoiselle  Emile  de  Fontaine, 
he  was  ill-made  and  stout,  the  only  advantage  he  had  being 
his  dark  hair  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  u\.     A  cousin  by  marriage 

tutrix  :  se<u  ^ocKef."^€.,NVr<iuis£.  do 


26  COMPENDIUM 

to  his  guardian,  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont,  he  was,  like  him, 
ruined  by  the  Baron  de  Nucingen,  in  the  business  of  the 
Wortschin  mines.  At  one  time  Godefroid  de  Beaudenord 
dreamed  of  pleasing  the  Marquise  d'Aiglemont,  his  hand- 
some cousin.  In  1827  he  married  Isaure  d'Aldrigger,  and, 
after  having  lived  with  her  in  a  comfortable  little  mansion  on 
the  Rue  de  la  Blanche,  he  was  reduced  to  solicit  a  situation 
under  the  minister  of  finance,  which  employment  he  lost  in 
the  Revolution  of  1830;  he  was  afterward  reappointed  by  the 
good  offices  of  Nucingen  in  1836  ;  he  lived  modestly  with  his 
mother-in-law,  his  unmarried  sister-in-law,  Malvina,  his  wife, 
and  four  children  she  had  given  him,  on  the  third  floor  over 
the  entresol,  Rue  du  Mont-Thabor  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\ 

Beaudenord,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  was 
Isaure  d'Aldrigger,  born  at  Strasbourg  in  1807.  A  languorous 
blonde,  formerly  fond  of  dancing,  absolutely  useless  from  a 
moral  or  intellectual  point  of  view  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

Beaumesnil,  Mademoiselle,  a  celebrated  actress  of  the 
The^tre-Frangais,  Baris,  already  at  maturity  under  the  Restora- 
tion. She  was  the  mistress  of  Beyrade,  the  police  spy,  by 
whom  she  had  one  daughter,  Lydie,  whom  he  acknowledged. 
The  last  residence  of  Mile.  Beaumesnil  was  on  the  Rue  de 
Tournon  ;  it  was  while  there  that  she  had  her  diamonds  of 
immense  value  stolen  by  Charles  Crochard,  her  real  lover,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Louis-Bhilippe  [The  Mid- 
dle Classes,  ee — The  Harlot's  Brogress,  Y,  Z—A  Second 
Home,  iSJ]. 

Beaupied,  or  Beau-Bied,  the  nickname  of  Jean  Falcon — 
which  see. 

Beaupre,  Fanny,  an  actress  of  the  theatre  of  Borte-Saint- 
Martin,  Baris,  under  Charles  X.  In  1825,  then  young  and 
pretty,  she  made  a  reputation  in  the  part  of  a  marquise  in  a 
melodrama  entitled  '^TheAnglade  Family."  At  this  time 
she  replaced  Coralie,  then  dead,  in  the  affections  of  Camusot, 
the  silk  merchant.     It  was  at  the  home  of  Fanny  Beauprd 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  27 

tliat  Oscar  Husson,  one  of  the  young  clerks  of  Desroches',  the 
barrister,  lost  at  play  the  sum  of  five  hundred  francs  belonging 
to  his  employer,  and  who  was  surprised  there  by  his  Uncle 
Cardot,  lying  dead-drunk  on  a  couch  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\  In 
1829  Fanny  Beaupre  passed  for  being,  at  the  price  of  gold,  the 
best  friend  of  the  Due  d'Herouville  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK.\, 
In  1842,  after  his  liaison  with  Mme.  de  Baudraye,  Lousteau 
lived  in  marital  relations  with  her  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\  Accustomed  to  a  splendid  hotel  she  was  at  the 
one  in  which  Esther  Gobseck  was  installed  by  the  Baron  de 
Nucingen ;  she  knew  all  the  world  of  gallantry  living  in  the 
years  1829  and  1830  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Z\ 

Beauseant,  Marquis  and  Comte  de,  father  and  eldest 
brother  of  the  Vicomte  de  Beauseant,  the  husband  of  Claire 
de  Bourgogne  [A  Forsaken  Woman,  }i\.  In  18 19  the  Marquis 
and  Comte  de  Beauseant  lived  together  in  their  hotel,  Rue 
Saint-Dominique,  Paris  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  Under  the 
Revolution  the  marquis  was  an  emigre  ;  the  Abbe  de  Marolles 
corresponded  with  him  [An  Episode  of  the  Reign  of  Ter- 
ror, t\ 

Beauseant,  Marquise  de.  In  1824  a  Marquise  de  Beau- 
seant, then  very  old,  is  found  in  relations  with  Chaulieu. 
This  was  probably  the  widow  of  the  marquis  of  that  name, 
and  the  mother  of  the  Comte  and  Vicomte  de  Beauseant 
[Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  The  Marquise  de  Beauseant  was  a 
Champignelles,  of  the  almost  royal  eldest  branch  [A  Forsaken 
Woman,  K\. 

Beauseant,  Vicomte  de,  husband  of  Claire  de  Bourgogne. 
He  knew  of  the  intimacy  of  his  wife  with  Miguel  d'x\juda- 
Pinto,  and,  willy-nilly,  respected  this  species  of  morganatic 
union,  recognized  by  society.  The  Vicomte  de  Beauseant  had 
his  mansion  in  Paris,  Rue  de  Crenelle,  in  1819;  he  became 
marquis  on  the  death  of  his  father  and  elder  brother.  He 
was  a  brave  man,  a  courtier,  methodical  and  ceremonious; 
also  obstinate  and  egotistical.     His  death  allowed  Mme.  de 


28  COMPENDIUM 

Beauseant  to  marry  Gaston  de  Nueil  [Father  Goriot,   O — 
A  Forsaken  Woman,  li\. 

Beauseant,  Vicomtesse  de,  born  Claire  de  Bourgogne, 
in  1792;  wife  of  the  preceding,  a  cousin  of  Eugene  de  Ras- 
tignac ;  of  a  family  nearly  royal.  Deceived  by  her  lover, 
Miguel  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  who,  the  while  he  continued  his  inti- 
macy with  her,  had  asked  for  and  obtained  the  hand  of  Berthe 
de  Rochefide,  the  marquise,  before  this  marriage,  secretly  left 
Paris,  on  the  morning  following  a  great  ball  given  at  her  home 
and  at  which  she  had  appeared  in  all  her  pride  and  glory. 
In  1820,  this  "Forsaken  Woman"  lived,  for  three  years,  in 
the  strictest  privacy,  at  Courcelles,  near  Bayeux.  Gaston  de 
Nueil,  a  young  man  of  twenty-three,  sent  to  Normandy  to 
recover  his  health,  called  upon  her  at  her  home ;  he  followed 
this  up,  and,  after  a  long  siege,  he  became  her  lover  at  Geneva, 
whither  she  had  flown  ;  this  intimacy  continued  for  nine  years, 
being  broken  by  the  marriage  of  the  young  man.  In  1819, 
at  Paris,  the  Vicomtesse  de  Beauseant  received  the  most  famous 
*Mmpertinents"  of  the  day — the  Maulincours,  Ronquerolles, 
Maxime  de  Trailles,  Marsays,  Vandenesses;  together  with  the 
most  fashionable  women,  including  Lady  Brandon,  the  Duch-. 
esse  de  Langeais,  Countess  de  Kergarouet,  Madame  de  Serizy, 
Duchesse  Carigliano,  Comtesse  Ferraud,  Madame  de  Lanty, 
Marquise  d'Aiglemont,  Madame  Firmiani,  Marquise  de  Listo- 
mere,  Marquise  d'Espard,  and  the  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse. 
She  was  equally  as  intimate  with  the  Grandlieus  and  General 
de  Montriveau.  Rastignac,  then  a  poor  man,  was  also  an  at- 
tendant at  her  **At  homes"  [Father  Goriot,  6r — A  Forsaken 
Woman,  It — Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Beaussier,  a  man  of  the  middle-class  at  Issoudon  under 
the  Restoration.  Having  seen  Joseph  Bridau  in  the  diligence, 
during  the  journey  of  that  artist  and  his  mother,  in  1822,  he 
said  that  he  would  not  have  liked  to  encounter  him  at  night 
in  some  corner  of  a  forest,  for  he  had  the  appearance  of  a 
brigand.     The  same  evening  Beaussier,  with  his  wife,  paid  a 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  29 

visit  to  the  Hocbons,  to  get  a  fuller  view  of  the  painter  at 
close  quarters  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Beaussier  junior,  called  the  "great  Beaussier,"  son  of 
the  preceding,  was  one  of  the  Knights  of  Idlesse,  commanded 
by  Maxence  Gilet,  at  Issoudon,  under  the  Restoration  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  eJ]. 

Beauvisage,  the  doctor  at  a  Carmellite  convent  at  Blois, 
under  Louis  XVIII.  He  was  known  by  Louise  de  Chaulieu 
and  Renee  de  Maucombe,  who  were  brought  up  in  the  con- 
vent. After  the  passing  of  Louise  de  Chaulieu  there  is  no 
certain  mention  of  the  man  by  this  name  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\. 

Beauvisage  had  been  the  tenant  of  the  magnificent  farm 
of  Bellache,  a  portion  of  the  Gondreville  estate  at  Arcis-sur- 
Aube;  the  father  of  Phileas  Beauvisage.  Died  about  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery, ff — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J[>J>]. 

Beauvisage,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  sur- 
vived him  a  long  time  and  was  able  to  aid  in  the  triumph  of 
her  son  Phileas  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Z)J>]. 

Beauvisage,  Phileas,  son  of  the  farmer  Beauvisage ;  born 
in  1792;  a  hosier  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  under  the  Restoration; 
the  mayor  of  that  town  in  1839.  After  a  first  check  he  was 
elected  deputy,  after  being  defeated  by  Sallenauve.  A  friend 
and  admirer  of  Crevel,  whom  he  followed  as  an  example  in 
good  style.  A  millionaire  and  vain,  he  would  have  furnished, 
according  to  Crevel,  Madame  Hulot,  as  the  price  of  her 
favors,  with  the  two  hundred  thousand  francs  which  that 
unhappy  v/oman  had  needed  about  1842  [Cousin  Betty,  %v — 
The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDX)]. 

Beauvisage,  Madame,  nee^  Severine  Grevin,  1795,  wife 
of  Phileas  Beauvisage,  whom  she  dominated.  A  daughter  of 
Grevin,  notary  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  the  intimate  friend  of  Sen- 
ator Malin  of  Gondreville.  She  had  her  father's  remarkable 
cleverness,  and,  although  of  small  stature,  much  resembled 


30  COMPENDIUM 

Mile.  Mars  in  her  countenance  and  manner  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  Tyiy\. 

Beauvisage,  Cecile-Renee,  only  daughter  of  Phileas 
Beauvisage  and  Severine  Grevin,  born  in  1820.  Her  real 
father  was  Vicomte  Melchior  de  Chargebceuf,  who  was  sub- 
prefect  of  Arcis-sur-Aube  at  the  beginning  of  the  Restoration  ; 
she  was  a  living  picture  of  him  in  her  aristocratic  manner. 
The  Comte  de  Gondreville  was  her  godfather  ;  Madame  Kel- 
ler, the  daughter  of  the  count,  her  godmother.  She  married 
in  May,  1847,  ^^  Paris,  Maxime  de  Trailles  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  iyD\ 

Beauvoir,  Charles-Felix-Theodore,  Chevalier  de, 
cousin  of  Mme.  la  Duchesse  de  Maille.  A  Chouan,  a  prisoner 
of  the  Republic  in  1799,  at  the  castle  of  I'Escarpe;  the  hero- 
ine in  a  chronicle  of  marital  revenge,  told  in  1836  by  Lous- 
teau,  before  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye,  and  which  he  narrated  in 
a  style  equal  to  that  of  Charles  Nodier  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 

Becaniere,  La,  the  cognomen  of  Barbette  Cibot.  See 
the  latter  name. 

Becker,  Edme,  a  medical  student,  living,  in  1828,  on  the 
Rue  de  la  Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve,  No.  22,  in  the  house 
occupied  by  the  Marquis  d'Espard  [The  Commission  in  Lu- 
nacy, c]. 

Bedeau,  office-boy  to  Maitre  Bordin,  barrister,  in  1787  [A 
Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Bega,  a  surgeon  in  a  French  regiment  of  the  army  in 
Spain,  1808.  After  having  secretly  accouched  a  Spanish 
lady,  under  the  surveillance  of  her  lover,  he  was  assassinated 
by  her  husband,  who  surprised  him  at  the  moment  when  he 
had  finished  telling  of  this  clandestine  delivery.  The  adven- 
ture was  narrated,  in  1836,  before  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye,  by 
the  receiver  of  taxes,  Gravier,  an  old  army  pay-clerk  [Muse  of 
the  Department,  CC\ 

Begrand,  La,  dancer,  in  1820,  at  the  Porte-Saint-Martin 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  31 

theatre,  Paris ;  *  Mariette,  who  made  her  debut  at  this  time, 
formed  a  remarkable  contrast  to  her  when  by  her  side  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Bellefeuille,  Mademoiselle  de,  a  name  borrowed  by- 
Caroline  Crochard — which  see. 

Bellejambe,  servant  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Husson  in 
1837  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Belor,  Mademoiselle  de,  a  young  girl  of  Bordeaux,  living 
there  in  1822.  She  was  always  searching  for  a  husband, 
which,  from  one  cause  or  another,  she  was  never  able  to  find. 
Was  probably  intimate  with  Evangelista  [A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, aa\. 

Bemboni,  Monsignor,  attache  of  the  secretary  of  State, 
at  Rome,  commanded  to  give  free  passage  to  the  Due  de 
Sorid's  letters  to  Madrid  from  the  Baron  de  Macumer,  his 
brother,  a  Spanish  refugee  in  Paris,  1823-24  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\ 

Benard,  Pieri,  after  two  years  of  correspondence  with  a 
German,  he  found  a  ''Virgin  of  Dresden,"  engraved  by 
Muller,  on  China  paper  and  proof  before  letters,  which  cost 
Cesar  Birotteau  five  hundred  francs.  The  perfumer  destined 
this  engraving  for  Vauquelin  the  chemist,  to  whom  he  lay 
under  obligations  [Cesar  Birotteau,  0\ 

Benassis,  Doctor,  born  about  1779  in  a  little  town  of 
the  Languedoc.  He  was  brought  up  at  the  Soreze  College, 
Tarn,  under  direction  of  the  Oratorians,  and  afterward  be- 
came a  student  of  medicine  at  Paris,  where  he  resided  in  the 
Latin  quarter.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  lost  his  father, 
who  left  him  a  great  fortune  ;  then  he  deserted  a  young  girl, 
of  whom  he  had  had  a  son  born,  for  the  sake  of  indulging 
in  dissipation  and  folly.  This  young  girl,  both  good  and 
devout,  died  two  years  after  her  desertion,  in  spite  of  the 
assiduous  care  of  her  repentant  lover.     Later  Benassis  sought 

*  It  remained  brilliant  for  more  than  sixty  years,  as  renowned  artists 
depicted  it  from  the  boulevards. 


32  COMPENDIUM 

another  young  maiden  in  marriage  who  belonged  to  a  strict 
Jansenist  family;  once  agreed  to,  he  was  afterward  rejected 
most  definitely;  following  this  he  devoted  his  whole  life  to 
his  son,  but  this  boy  died  in  his  youth.  After  hesitating  for 
some  time  between  suicide  and  the  monastery  of  the  Grande- 
Chartreuse,  Doctor  Benassis  stopped  over  by  chance  in  the 
poor  village  of  I'lsere,  five  leagues  from  Grenoble.  He  quit 
there  no  more  until  he  had  transformed  the  wretched  hamlet, 
inhabited  by  pining  cretins,  into  the  chief  place  in  the  can- 
ton, with  a  prosperous  and  active  people.  Benassis  died  in 
1829,  being  mayor  of  that  commune;  all  the  inhabitants  wept 
over  their  benefactor,  who  was  their  good  genius  [The  Coun- 
try Doctor,  O]. 

Benedetto,  an  Italian  living  in  Rome  in  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  at  once  a  passable  musi- 
cian and  a  police  spy ;  ugly,  little,  and  given  to  drink,  he  was 
yet  the  lucky  husband  of  Luigia,  whose  exquisite  beauty  he 
was  wont  to  exploit.  His  disgusted  wife,  one  evening  when 
he  was  filled  with  wine,  lighted  a  brasier  of  charcoal,  after 
having  carefully  stopped  up  all  chinks  of  the  conjugal  cham- 
ber ;  the  neighbors  rushed  in  and  saved  one — Benedetto  was 
dead  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _Di>]. 

Bere'nice,  chambermaid  and  cousin  of  Coralie,  an  actress 
at  the  Panorama  and  Gymnase  Dramatiques.  A  burly  Nor- 
man, as  ugly  as  her  mistress  was  pretty,  but  of  a  fine  and 
delicate  mind,  in  exact  proportion  to  her  corpulence.  She 
had  been  Coralie's  companion  in  her  childhood  and  was 
absolutely  devoted  to  her.  In  October,  1822,  she  gave  to 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  then  without  any  other  resource,  four 
five-franc  pieces,  which  she  had  doubtless  earned  by  the  gen- 
erosity of  her  "lovers  for  a  short  time,"  met  on  the  Bonne- 
Nouvelle  boulevard.  This  amount  allowed  that  unfortunate 
poet  to  return  to  Angouleme  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  M.\ 

Bergerin  was  the  leading  physician  at  Saumur  under  the 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  33 

Restoration.     He  carefully  attended  the  Felix  Grandets  in 
their  last  illnesses  [Eugenie  Grandet,  _EJ]. 

Bergmann,  M.  and  Mme.,  Swiss.  Former  gardeners  of 
a  Corate  Borromeo,  who  maintained  parks  on  the  two  most 
farnous  islands  in  the  Majeur  Lake.  In  1823  they  were  the 
owners,  at  Gersau,  in  the  canton  of  Lucerne,  near  by  the  Lake 
of  the  Four  Cantons,  of  a  house  of  which  they  had  rented 
off,  since  the  preceding  year,  a  floor  to  the  Prince  and  Prin- 
cess Gandolphini.  They  were  personages  in  a  novel,  *•' Love's 
Ambitions,"  published  by  Albert  Sa varus,  in  the  '*  Revue  de 
I'Est,"  in  1834  [Albert  Savaron,/]. 

Bernard.     See  Baron  de  Bourlac. 

Bernus,  a  carrier,  who  traveled  with  the  merchandise  and 
possibly  the  letters  of  Saint-Nazaire  to  Guerande,  under 
Charles  X.  and  Louis-Philippe  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Berquet,  a  workman  of  Besan^on,  who  built  in  1834,  in 
the  garden  of  the  Wattevilles,  an  elevated  summer-house, 
from  which  Rosalie,  their  daughter,  could  plainly  see  every 
gesture  and  motion  made  by  Albert  Savarus,  who  lived  near 
by  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Berthier,  Alexandre,  marshal  of  the  Empire,  born  at 
Versailles  in  1753,  died  1815.  As  minister  of  War  at  the 
end  of  1799,  he  wrote  Hulot,  who  then  commanded  the  72d 
half-brigade,  refusing  his  resignation  and  giving  him  certain 
instructions  [The  Chouans,  Jg].  On  the  eve  of  the  battle  of 
Jena,  October  13,  1806,  he  accompanied  the  Emperor  and 
with  him  met  the  Marquis  de  Chargeboeuf  and  Laurence  de 
Cinq-Cygne,  who  had  come  express  from  France  to  implore 
pardon  for  the  des  Simeuses,  Hauteserres,  and  Michu,  con- 
victed as  the  abductors  of  Senator  Malin  of  Gondreville  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Berthier,  a  notary  in  Paris,  successor  to  Cardot,  in  whose 

office  he  had  been  second  head  clerk,  marrying  his  daughter 

Felicite  (or  Felicie).     In    1843  he  was  Madame  Marneffe's 

notary ;  at  the  same  period  he  had  charge  of  the  business  of 

3 


34  COMPENDIUM 

Camusot  de  Marville,  and  Sylvain  Pons  often  dined  there  with 
him.  Maitre  Berthier  -drew  up  the  marriage  settlement  of 
Wilhelm  Schwab  and  Emilie  Graff  and  the  deed  of  copart- 
nership between  Fritz  Brunner  and  Wilhelm  Schwab  [Cousin 
Betty,    W — Cousin  Pons,  x\ 

Berthier,  Madame,  nee  Felicie  Cardot,  wife  of  the 
above.  She  had  been  seduced  by  the  chief  clerk  in  her 
father's  office.  The  young  man  suddenly  died,  leaving  her 
enceinte.  She  then  married,  in  1837,  the  second  clerk,  Ber- 
thier, after  being  on  the  point  of  marrying  Lousteau.  Ber- 
thier knew  the  secret  of  the  chief  clerk  and  that  of  Lousteau's. 
The  marriage  was  comparatively  a  happy  one.  Mme.  Ber- 
thier, out  of  gratitude  to  her  husband,  was  a  perfect  slave 
to  him.  So,  toward  the  end  of  1844,  she  treated  Sylvain 
Pons,  then  at  outs  with  the  rest  of  his  relatives,  more  than 
coldly  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Berton,  tax-collector  at  Arcis-sur-Aube  in  1839  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>1>]. 

Berton,  Mademoiselle,  daughter  of  the  tax-collector  at 
Arcis-sur-Aube.  A  young  and  insignificant  girl  who  played 
the  satellite  to  Cecile  Beauvisage  and  Ernestine  Mollot  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  T>jy\. 

Berton,  Doctor,  a  physician  of  Paris.  In  1836  he  lived 
on  the  Rue  d'Enfer.=^  He  was  affiliated  with  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie  in  her  benevolent  work ;  he  visited  the  sick  poor  of 
whom  she  told  him ;  he  cared  for,  among  others,  Vauda  de 
Mergi,  the  daughter  of  Baron  du  Bourlac  (M.  Bernard). 
Doctor  Berton  was  a  cold,  stern  man  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T\ 

Bethune,  Prince  de,  the  only  man  of  the  aristocracy 
who  "understood  a  hat,"  to  follow  the  words  of  Vital  the 
hatter,  in  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vl\. 

Beunier  &  Co.,  a  house  of  whom  Mme.  Nourrisson  spoke 
to  Bixiou  in  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  t^]. 
*  Now  the  Rue  Denfert-Rochereau. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  35 

Bianchi,  an  Italian,  a  captain  under  the  first  Empire,  in 
the  sixth  regiment  of  the  French  line,  almost  wholly  com- 
posed of  men  of  his  nationality.  Famous  among  his  associ- 
ates for  having  bet  that  he  would  eat  the  heart  of  a  Spanish 
sentinel  and  for  having  won  the  bet.  Captain  Bianchi 
planted  the  first  French  flag  on  the  walls  of  Tarragona, 
Spain,  in  the  attack  of  1808;  but  he  was  killed  by  a  monk 
[The  Maranas,  e\. 

Bianchon,  Doctor,  a  physician  of  Sancerre,  father  of 
Horace  Bianchon,  brother  of  Mme.  Popinot,  the  wife  of 
Judge  Popinot  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Bianchon,  Horace,  a  physician  of  Paris,  famous  in  the 
reigns  of  Charles  X.  and  Louis-Philippe,  officer  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor,  member  of  the  Institute,  professor  in  the  Faculte 
de  Medecine,  physician-in-chief,  at  the  same  time,  of  a  hos- 
pital and  I'Ecole  Polytechnique ;  born  at  Sancerre,  Cher,  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  1819,  while 
house-surgeon  of  the  Cochin  Hospital,  he  took  his  meals  at 
Vauquer's  boarding-house,  where  he  was  friendly  with  Eugene 
de  Rastignac,  then  a  worthy  student,  and  knew  Goriot  and 
Vautrin  [Father  Goriot,  Q\  Shortly  afterward  he  became 
the  favorite  pupil,  at  the  Hotel-Dieu,  of  Desplein,  the  sur- 
geon, whom  he  attended  at  his  last  moment  [The  Atheist's 
Mass,  c].  A  nephew  of  Judge  Jean-Jules  Popinot  and  a  re- 
lation of  Ansel  me  Popinot,  he  was  acquainted  with  Cesar 
Birotteau,  the  perfumer,  and  to  whom  he  gave  the  recipe  for 
the  famous  oil  of  hazelnuts.  He  was  given  an  invitation  to 
the  great  ball  from  which  Cesar's  ruin  dated  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O — The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c\  A  member  of 
the  Cenacle  of  the  Rue  Quatre-Vents  and  intimately  united 
with  all  the  young  men  who  formed  that  society,  he  was  as  a 
consequence  able  to  place  Daniel  d'Arthez  in  communication 
with  Rastignac,  who  was  now  become  the  secretary  of  State. 
He  attended  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who  was  wounded  in 
1822    in   a   duel  with    Michel  Christien ;   and  also  Coralie, 


36  COMPENDIUM 

Lucien's   mistress,    and   Mme.    Bridau    on    their   death-beds 
[A   Distinguished    Provincial,  JK^K   Bachelor's   Establish- 
ment, e7— The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ;§;].    In  1824 
the  young  Doctor  Bianchon  accompanied   Desplein,   being 
called  in  by  Flamet,  to  the  death-bed  of  Billardiere  [Les 
Employes,  cc].     With  the  same  Desplein  and  Dr.  Martener, 
of  Provins,  in  1828,  he  gave  more  care  to  Pierrette  Lorrain 
than  he  would  have  given  an  empress  [Pierrette,  t].     The 
same  year,  1828,  he  wished  once  to  become  one  of  the  expedi- 
tion to  Morea.     He  was  then  Mme.  de  Listomere's  physician, 
of  whom   he  afterward   told   of  a   blunder  to  Rastignac  [A 
Study  of  Woman,  (i\.     In  1829,  again  with  Desplein,  he  was 
called  in   by  Mme.   de   Nucingen,  and  in  her  boudoir  was 
primed  as  to  her  husband,  Barori  de  Nucingen,  being  sick  of 
love  for  Esther  Gobseck.     In   1830,  always  as  ever  with  his 
famous  master,  he  was  sent  for  by  Corentin  to  give  an  opinion 
on  the  death  of  Peyrade  and  the  case  of  the  crazed  Lydie,  his 
daughter ;    then,   once    more    with    Desplein    and    with    Dr. 
Sinard,  he  attended   Mme.   de  Serizy,  whom  it  was  thought 
would  lose  her  mind  after  the  suicide  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  T^  ^].     Again  with  Desplein  and 
about  the  same  time,  he  was  in  attendance  to  the  last  mo- 
ments of  Honorine,  Comte  de  Bauvan's  wife  [Honorine,  ifc], 
and  saw  the  daughter  of  Baron   de  Bourlac   (M.  Bernard), 
who  had  taken  a  strange  Polish  complaint — the  plique  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\     Horace  Bianchon  was,  in  1831, 
the  friend  and  doctor  of  Raphael  de  Valentin  [The  Wild  Ass' 
Skin,  A^.     Familiar  with  the  Comte  de  Granville,  in   1833, 
he   attended    his    mistress,    Caroline    Crochard    [A   Second 
Home,  «].     He  also  attended  Mme.  du  Bruel,  at  that  time 
Palferine's  mistress,  who  had  wounded  herself  by  falling,  her 
head  striking  against  an  angle  of  the  fireplace  [A  Prince  of 
Bohemia,  FF'\  ;  then,  in  1835,  attended  Mme.  Marie  Gaston 
(Louise  de  Chaulieu)  after  all  hope  had  fled  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v'].     In   1837  he  was  accoucheur,  at  Paris,  of  Mme, 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  37 

de  la  Baudraye,  in  the  family-way  by  the  work  of  Lousteau ;  he 
was  assisted  by  the  celebrated  accoucheur  Duriau  [Muse  of  the 
Department,  CC\  In  1838  he  was  the  doctor  of  Comte 
Laginski  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  K\.  In  1840  Horace 
Bianchon  lived  on  the  Rue  de  la  Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve, 
in  the  house  in  which  his  uncle,  Judge  Popinot,  had  died. 
He  was  asked  to  consent  to  be  nominated  to  the  municipal 
council,  to  fill  the  place  of  that  magistrate  of  integrity;  but 
he  refused,  and  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  candidature 
of  Thuillier  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\.  Doctor  of  the  Baron 
Hulot,  of  Crevel  and  Mme.  Marneife,  with  seven  of  his  col- 
leagues, he  noted  the  terrible  sickness  which  carried  off  Val- 
erie and  her  second  husband  in  1842,  and  1843  he  also 
attended  Lisbeth  Fischer  in  her  last  illness  [Cousin  Betty,  W^. 
Then,  in  1844,  Doctor  Bianchon  was  called  in  consultation 
by  the  physician  Roubaub  in  reference  to  Madame  Graslin  at 
Montegnac  [The  Country  Parson,  JE'\  Horace  Bianchon  was 
a  brilliant  and  witty  story-teller.  He  told  to  the  world  the 
adventures  which  have  for  title :  A  Study  of  Woman,  a — 
Another  Study  of  Woman,  l — The  Great  Breteche,^. 

Bibi-Lupin,  chief  of  the  police  of  safety  from  1819  to 
1830;  an  old  convict.  In  1819  he  himself  arrested,  at  the 
Vauquer  boarding-house,  Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin,  his 
former  companion  at  the  hulks  and  his  personal  enemy. 
Under  the  name  of  Gondureau,  Bibi-Lupin  entered  into 
relations  with  Mademoiselle  Michonneau,  a  boarder  at  Mme. 
Vauquer's,  and  by  her  aid  he  obtained  the  proofs  that  he 
whom  he  wanted  was  the  veritable  one  under  the  identity  of 
Vautrin,  then  an  escaped  prisoner;  soon  after,  May,  1830, 
he  succeeded  to  the  head  of  the  police  of  safety  [Father 
Goriot,  6r — Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,";^]. 

Bidault,  M.  and  Mme.,  brother  and  sister-in-law  of 
Bidault,  called  Gigonnet,  father  and  mother  of  Monsieur 
and  Madame  Saillard,  furniture  dealers  under  the  pillars  of 
the  Central  Market,  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 


38  COMPENDIUM 

tury  and  also  most  likely  at  the  commencement  of  the  nine- 
teenth [Les  Employes,  cc\- 

Bidault,  called  Gigonnet,  born  in  1755,  originally  of 
I'Auvergne,  uncle  of  Mme.  Saillard  on  the  paternal  side. 
Formerly  a  paper  merchant,  retiring  in  the  year  II.  of  the 
Republic,  he  had  at  that  time  opened  an  account  with  a 
Dutchman,  the  Sieur  Werbrust,  a  friend  of  Gobseck's.  In 
reference  to  business  with  the  last  named  he  had,  like  him, 
the  name  of  being  one  of  the  most  formidable  usurers  in 
Paris  under  the  Empire,  during  the  Restoration,  and  the  first 
years  of  the  government  of  July.  He  lived  on  the  Rue  Gre- 
neta  [Les  Employes,  cc — Gobseck,  (j\  Luigi  Porta,  a  supe- 
rior officer,  reduced  under  Louis  XVIII.,  sold  to  Gigonnet 
all  the  arrears  of  his  back  pay  [The  Vendetta,  i\  Bidault 
was  one  of  the  syndicate  that  brought  about  Birotteau's  failure 
in  1819.  At  this  time  he  persecuted  Mme.  Madou,  a  "dry 
fruit"  dealer,  his  debtor  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  In  1824  he 
was  able  to  have  his  grand-nephew,  Isidore  Baudoyer,  made 
chief  of  a  division  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  and  was  able, 
with  the  concurrence  of  Gobseck  and  Mitral,  in  playing  upon 
the  secretary-general,  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  overwhelmed 
with  debts  and  a  candidate  for  deputy  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 
Bidault  was  a  very  cunning  man :  he  divined  the  dissimula- 
tion under  the  third  liquidation,  operated  by  Nucingen  in 
1826,  and  much  to  his  profit  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f  ]. 
In  1833  M.  du  Tillet  induced  Nathan,  who  needed  money 
very  badly,  to  apply  to  Gigonnet ;  this  advice  had  for  its 
end  the  embarrassment  of  Nathan  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 
The  nickname  of  Gigonnet  was  given  to  Bidault  from  the 
feverish  and  convulsive  motions  which  he  had  in  one  leg  [Les 
Employes,  cc\. 

Biddin,  a  goldsmith  on  the  Rue  de  TArbre-Sec,  Paris,  in 
1829;  one  of  Esther  Gobseck's  creditors  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, Y\ 

Biffe,    La,    the   concubine   of  the   malefactor   Riganson, 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  39 

called  le  Biffon.  This  woman,  a  sort  of  Jacques  Collin  in 
petticoats,  dodged  the  police  by  the  aid  of  her  disguises;  she 
knew  most  admirably  how  to  act  the  marquise,  baroness,  or 
countess ;  she  had  a  carriage  and  servants  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress— Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,   &\ 

Biffon,  Le,  real  name  Riganson. 

Bigorneau,  a  romantic-looking  assistant,  employed  by 
Fritot,  a  dry  goods  dealer,  in  Paris,  in  the  quarter  of  the 
Bourse,  under  Louis-Philippe  [Gaudissart  11. ,  n]. 

Bijou,  Olympe.     See  Grenouville,  Madame. 

Binet,  a  tavern-keeper  in  the  department  of  the  Orne  in 
1809.  He  was  implicated  in  the  trial  which  had  then  a  cer- 
tain interest  for  and  clouded  the  life  of  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie,  striking  at  her  daughter,  Madame  des  Tour-Minieres. 
Binet  harbored  the  brigands  called  *' Chauffeurs  "  j  brought 
before  the  tribunal,  he  was  condemned  to  five  years'  imprison- 
ment [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Birotteau,  Jacques,  a  cotter;  living  near  Chinon.  He 
married  the  chambermaid  of  a  lady  for  whom  he  trimmed  the 
vines ;  he  had  three  boys,  Francois, Jean,  and  Cesar ;  he  lost 
his  wife  when  brought  to  bed  of  her  last  child  (1779),  and 
died  himself  shortly  thereafter  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Birotteau,  Abbe  Francois,  the  eldest  son  of  Jacques 
Birotteau;  born  about  1766;  vicar  of  the  church  of  Saint- 
Gatien,  Tours,  afterward  becoming  cur^  of  Saint-Symphorium 
in  the  same  town.  In  181 7,  after  the  death  of  the  Abbe  de 
la  Berge,  he  became  Mme.  de  Mortsauf's  confessor,  and  was 
present  at  her  last  hour  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i].  In 
1819,  his  brother  Cesar,  the  perfumer,  wrote  him  after  his 
ruin  and  asked  him  for  assistance ;  Abbe  Birotteau  sent,  in  a 
letter  full  of  tenderness,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  francs, 
which  represented  the  whole  of  his  savings,  beside  a  further 
amount  given  him  by  Mme.  de  Listomere  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O].  Accused  of  having  unduly  influenced  the  same  Mme. 
de  Listomere  to  leave  him  an  income  of  fifteen  hundred  francs 


40  COMPENDIUM 

at  her  death,  he  was  placed  by  his  archbishop  under  an  inter- 
diction in  1826,  the  terrible  victim  of  the  hate  of  the  Abbe 
Froubert  [The  Celibates,  J"]. 

Birotteau,  Jean,  the  second  son  of  Jacques  Birotteau ; 
he  was  killed,  while  captain,  at  the  famous  battle  of  Trebia, 
which  lasted  for  three  days,  from  June  17th  to  19th,  1799 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O]- 

Birotteau,  Cesar,  the  third  son  of  Jacques  Birotteau, 
born  1779;  a  perfumer  in  Paris,  No.  397  Rue  Saint-Hon- 
ore,  near  the  Place  Vendome,  in  the  store  once  occupied  by 
Descoings  the  grocer,  who  was  executed  with  Andre  Chenier 
in  1794.  Cesar  Birotteau  was  the  successor  of  Sieur  Ragon, 
after  the  i8th  Brumaire,  and  transposed  the  front  of  the 
"Queen  of  Roses"  at  the  address  given.  He  had  among 
his  patrons  the  Georges,  the  La  Billardieres,  the  Montaurans, 
the  Bauvans,  the  Longuys,  Mandas,  Berniers,  the  Guenics, 
and  the  Fontaines.  This  relationship  with  the  militant 
Royalists  led  to  the  conspiracy  of  the  13th  Vendemaire,  1795, 
against  the  Convention,  in  which  he  was  wounded  ;  he  often 
repeated  this  story,  *'by  Bonaparte,  on  the  steps  of  Saint- 
Roch."  The  perfumer  Birotteau  married,  in  the  month  of 
May,  1800,  Constance-Barbe-Josephine  Pillerault,  who  bore 
him  only  one  daughter,  Cesarine,  married  in  1822  to  Anselme 
Popinot.  By  turns  he  was  captain,  then  major  of  battalion 
in  the  National  Guard  and  deputy  mayor  of  the  eleventh 
arrondissement ;  he  was  nominated  a  chevalier  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor  in  1818.  To  celebrate  his  nomination  to  the  order 
he  gave  a  grand  ball'*'  which  necessitated  important  changes 
in  his  apartments;  this,  together  with  bad  speculations, 
caused  his  total  ruin  and  he  had  to  file  his  petition  in  bank- 
ruptcy, the  year  following.  By  stubborn  work  and  very 
scrupulous  economy  Birotteau  entirely  settled  with  his  cred- 
itors in   less   than    three  years,  in  1822;    but  he  died  soon 

*  December  17th  was  really  a  Thursday,  not  Sunday,  as  erroneously 
given. 


COmAdIE  HUMAlNE.  41 

after  his  solemn  rehabilitation  by  the  court.  He  had,  in 
1818,  amongst  the  number  of  his  customers:  the  Due  and 
Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt,  Princesse  de  Blamont-Chauvry,  the 
Marquise  d'Espard,  the  two  Vandenesses,  Marsay,  Ronque- 
roUes,  and  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J'\  Cesar  Birotteau  was  on  a 
friendly  footing  with  the  Guillaumes,  dry  goods  dealers  on 
the  Rue  Saint-Denis  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f\. 

Birotteau,  Madame  ;  maiden  name  Constance-Barbe-Jose- 
phine  Pillerault ;  born  in  1782;  wife  of  Cesar  Birotteau, 
whom  she  married  in  May,  1800.  She  was  "  forelady  "  at 
the  ''Little  Sailor,"*  a  store  for  the  sale  of  novelties  and 
outfittings,  at  the  corner  of  the  Quai  d'Anjou  and  the  Rue 
des  Deux-Ponts,  Paris,  until  her  marriage.  Her  only  relative 
and  protector  was  Claude- Joseph  Pillerault,  her  uncle  [Cesar 
Birotteau,  O]. 

Birotteau,  Cesarine.     See  Popinot,  Madame  Anselme. 

BixioUj'f"  a  grocer  on  the  Rue  Saint-Honore,  Paris,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  before  the  Revolution.  He  had  a  clerk, 
named  Descoings,  who  married  his  widow.  Bixiou  the  grocer 
was  grandfather  to  the  noted  caricaturist  Jean-Jacques  Bixiou 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  JT]. 

Bixiou,  son  of  the  preceding  and  father  of  Jean-Jacques 
Bixiou.  He  was  killed,  a  colonel  of  the  21st  regiment  of  the 
line,  at  the  battle  of  Dresden,  August  26  or  27,  1813  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/"]. 

Bixiou,  Jean- Jacques,  a  celebrated  designer,  son  of  Col- 
onel Bixiou,  killed  at  Dresden,  step-son  of  Madame  Descoings, 
once  the  widow  of  Bixiou  the  grocer.  Born  in  1797,  he 
completed  his  studies  at  the  Lyceum,  to  which  he  had  ob- 
tained a  scholarship  ;  here  he  had  for  companions  Philippe 
and  Joseph  Bridau,  also  Maitre  Desroches.      He  afterward 

*  This  store  still   exists  at  the  same  place,  No.  43  Quai  d'Anjou  and 
No.  40  Rue  des  Deux-Ponts,  under  the  management  of  M.  L.  Bellevant, 
\  The  name  is  pronounced  "  Bissiou." 


42  COMPENDIUM 

entered  the  studio  of  Gros  the  painter  ;  then,  m  1819,  by  the 
favor  of  the  Dues  de  Maufrigneuse  and  de  Rhetore,  who  knew 
him  from  meeting  him  with  dancers,  he  was  given  a  position 
in  the  Bureau  of  Finance ;  he  stayed  there  until  December, 
1824,  at  which  time  he  was  discharged.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  marriage  of  Philippe  Bridau 
to  Flore  Brazier,  called  la  Rabouilleuse,  then  the  widow  of 
J.  J.  Rouget.  After  the  death  of  that  woman,  disguised  as 
a  priest,  he  was  taken  to  the  Hotel  de  Soulanges,  where  he 
related  the  scandal  of  that  death,  to  which  she  had  been 
brought  by  her  husband,  and  the  wicked  doings  and  indeli- 
cacy of  Philippe  Bridau,  and  thus  broke  off  his  marriage  with 
Mile.  Amelie  de  Soulanges.  A  talented  caricaturist,  a  past- 
master  in  practical  jokes,  he  was  also  the  king  of  jesters,  and 
lived  an  unbridled  life.  He  was  friendly  with  all  the  artists 
and  lorettes  of  his  time  ;  among  others  he  knew  the  painter 
Hippolyte  Schinner.  During  the  trial  of  Fulades  and  de 
Castaing  he  made  a  good  thing  out  of  his  fantastic  cari- 
catures which  he  supplied  for  publication  [A  Bachelor's  Es- 
tablishment, JT — Les  Employes,  CC — The  Purse,  ^].  He 
designed  the  vignettes  for  Canalis'  works  [Modeste  Mig- 
non,  jK"].  With  Blondet,  Lousteau,  and  Nathan,  he  was  one  of 
the  frequenters  of  Esther  Gobseck's  apartments,  Rue  Saint- 
Georges,  1829-30  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\  In  1836,  in 
the  private  dining-room  of  a  celebrated  restaurant,  he  told 
with  much  spirit  the  origin  of  Nucingen's  fortune  to  Finot, 
Blondet,  and  Couture  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f].  In  Jan- 
uary, 1837,  he  was  desired  by  his  friend  Lousteau  to  come 
and  upbraid  him  on  his  unbecoming  relations  with  Mme.  de 
la  Baudraye,  while  she  was  concealed  in  a  neighboring  room 
and  could  hear  all.  This  scene  was  without  effect ;  she  more 
than  ever  declared  her  attachment  to  Lousteau  and  begged 
him  to  take  her  as  his  mistress  [Muse  of  the  Department, 
CO].  In  1838  his  home  was  with  HeloTse  Brisetout  when 
she  "hung  out"  on  the  Rue  Chauchatj  in  the  same  year  he 


COM&DIE  HVMAINE,  43 

was  present  at  the  marriage  of  Steinbock  to  Hortense  Hulot, 
and  at  that  of  Crevel  with  the  widow  Mme.  Marneffe  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\  The  sculptor  Dorlange-Sallenauve  knew  of  Bixiou 
and  complained  of  his  slanders  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>J>]. 
Very  warmly  welcomed  by  Madame  Schontz,  about  1838, 
he  passed  for  being  her  preference,  although  in  reality  their 
relations  did  not  pass  the  bounds  of  friendship  [Beatrix,  J?]. 
In  1840,  at  the  home  of  Marguerite  Turquet,  whither  he 
was  taken  by  Cardot,  the  notary,  he  heard  a  story  told  by 
Desroches  before  Lousteau,  Nathan,  and  La  Palferine  [A  Man 
of  Business,  V\.  Bixiou  assisted,  about  1844,  ii^  the  scene  of 
high  comedy  in  reference  to  the  Selim  shawl  sold  by  Fritot 
to  Mrs.  Noswell ;  Bixiou  was  in  the  store  with  M.  du  Ron- 
ceret,  buying  a  shawl  for  Mme.  Schontz  [Gaudissart  II.,  7i\. 
In  1845  Bixiou  showed  Paris  and  **  The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers" to  the  Pyrenean  Gazonal,  in  company  with  Leon  de 
Lora,  a  cousin  of  the  provincial.  At  this  time  Bixiou,  who 
was  a  habitue  of  the  Rue  de  Ponthieu,  at  the  time  when  he 
was  a  government  clerk,  lived  at  No.  112  Rue  Richelieu,  on 
the  sixth  floor  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  if],  and  he  was 
the  real  lover  of  HeloVse  Brisetout  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Blamont-Chauvry,  Princesse  de,  mother  of  Mme. 
d'Espard,  aunt  of  the  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  great-aunt  of 
Mme.  de  Mortsauf,  a  veritable  d'Hozier  in  petticoats.  Her 
salon  was  the  authority  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain,  and 
the  words  of  this  feminine  Talleyrand  were  listened  to  as  those 
of  an  oracle.  Very  old  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XVIII. ,  she  was  the  most  poetic  reminder  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV.,  called  the  *'  Good  Friend,"  to  the  nickname  of 
which  she  had,  following  the  history,  contributed  her  due 
share  [The  Thirteen — The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh\  Mme. 
Firmiani  was  received  at  her  home  in  memory  of  the  Cadig- 
nans  to  whom  she  belonged  on  her  mother's  side  [Madame 
Firmiani,  }i\,  and  Felix  de  Vandenesse  was  admitted  on  the 
recommendation  of  Mme.  de  Mortsauf;  he  found  peace  in 


44  COMPENDIUM 

this  old  woman,  a  friend  whose  sentiments  were  to  some  ex- 
tent maternal.  The  princess  was  at  the  family  council  which 
met  to  judge  the  amorous  escapade  of  the  Duchesse  Antoinette 
de  Langeais  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X— The  Thirteen — The 
Duchess  of  Langeais,  6&]. 

Blandureaus,  very  wealthy  linen  merchants  at  Alengon, 
under  the  Restoration.  They  had  an  only  daughter  to  whom 
President  du  Ronceret  wished  to  marry  his  son,  but  who  married 
Joseph  Blondet,  eldest  son  of  Judge  Blondet ;  this  marriage 
caused  secret  hostilities  between  the  two  fathers,  of  whom  one 
was  the  chief  of  the  other  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa]. 

Blondet,  a  judge  at  Alengon  in  1824,  born  in  1758,  father 
of  Joseph  and  Emile  Blondet.  An  old  public  prosecutor 
under  the  Revolution.  A  pastmaster  in  botany,  he  had  a 
wonderful  greenhouse  where  above  all  else  he  cultivated  pelar- 
goniums. This  greenhouse  was  visited  by  the  Empress  Marie- 
Louise,  who  spoke  to  the  Emperor  and  obtained  for  the  judge 
the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  After  the  matter 
of  Victurnien  d'Escrignon,  about  1825,  Judge  Blondet  was 
promoted  to  be  an  officer  in  the  order  and  was  appointed 
councilor  in  the  Royal  Court :  he  could  not  rest  longer  in 
that  function  than  the  time  necessary  and  returned  to  live 
in  his  dear  house  at  Alen^on.  He  was  married  in  1798, 
at  the  age  of  forty,  to  a  young  girl  of  eighteen,  who  fell  as  a 
consequence.  He  knew  that  Emile,  his  second  son,  was  not 
gotten  by  him  ;  so  he  did  not  have  the  same  affection  for  him 
that  he  had  for  the  eldest,  and  quickly  sent  him  away  [The 
Collection  of  Antiquities,  acC\.  About  1838,  Fabien  du  Ron- 
ceret was  remarkable  at  an  agricultural  assembly  for  a  flower 
which  had  been  given  him  by  old  Blondet,  and  which  he 
claimed  to  have  gotten  from  his  own  greenhouse  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Blondet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  1780, 
married  in  1798.  She  became  the  mistress  of  a  prefect  of  the 
Orne,  who  was  the  natural  father  in  adultery  of  Emile  Blondet. 
When  the  tie  was  broken  she  attached  herself  to  the  Troisville 


CO  ME  DIE   HUMAINE.  45 

family ;  she  there  introduced  her  favorite  son  Emile,  and 
died  there  in  1818;  she  had  recommended  him  to  her  old  lover 
and  at  the  same  time  to  the  future  General  de  Montcornet, 
with  whom  he  had  been  raised  [The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, aa\. 

Blondet,  Joseph,  oldest  son  of  Judge  Blondet  of  Alen- 
^on ;  born  in  that  town  about  1799-  He  practiced  in  1824 
the  profession  of  a  barrister,  and  aspired  to  become  a  substi- 
tute judge.  Pending  this  he  succeeded  his  father;  he  occu- 
pied that  post  until  his  death.  He  was  of  a  remarkable  and 
general  mediocrity  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  ucC\. 

Blondet,  Madame  Joseph,  formerly  Claire  Blandureau, 
wife  of  Joseph  Blondet,  whom  she  married  when  he  was 
appointed  judge  at  Alengon.  She  was  a  daughter  of  the 
richest  linen  merchant  in  the  town  [The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, aa\ 

Blondet,  Emile,  born  at  Alengon  about  the  year  1800, 
was,  legally,  the  youngest  son  of  Judge  Blondet,  but  in 
reality  the  son  of  a  prefect  of  the  Orne.  Tenderly  loved  by 
his  mother,  he  was,  on  the  contrary,  odious  to  the  judge,  who 
sent  him,  in  1818,  to  make  his  own  way  in  Paris.  When  in 
Alen^on  Emile  Blondet  knew  the  noble  family  d'Escrignon, 
and  had  an  esteem  that  was  nearly  akin  to  admiration  for 
the  last  daughter  of  that  illustrious  house  [Jealousies  of  a 
Country  Town,  AA.~\.  Emile  Blondet  was,  in  1821,  a  very 
beautiful  young  man.  He  made  his  appearance  in  the  '*  De- 
bats  "  by  a  series  of  articles  of  much  weight,  and  Lousteau 
allowed  him  to  be  "one  of  the  princes  of  critics"  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilff].  In  1824  he  wrote 
for  a  review  run  by  Finot,  where  he  collaborated  with  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  and  he  was  allowed  to  exploit  himself  as  he 
wished  by  his  editor.  His  manner  was  abrupt ;  he  would  fre- 
quently greet  without  shame,  with  the  greatest  intimacy,  those 
whom  he  would  throw  over  the  next  day.  He  was  in  continual 
need  of  money.     In  1829-30  he  was,  with  Bixiou,  Lousteau, 


46  COMPENDIUM 

and  Nathan,  one  of  the  frequenters  of  Esther  Gobseck*s 
house.  Rue  Saint-Georges  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  I^]. 
Blondet,  a  great  banterer,  had  no  respect  for  consecrated 
fame.  He  made  a  wager,  with  success,  that  he  would  worry 
the  poet  Canalis.  Full  of  assurance,  he  bent  a  frigid  look  on 
his  curled  hair,  his  boots,  or  the  tails  of  his  coat,  while  he 
recited  poetry  or  delivered  a  speech  with  emphasis,  standing 
in  a  studied  pose  [Modeste  Mignon,  JT].  Friendly  with 
Mile,  des  Touches,  he  is  found  at  her  home  some  part  of  the 
time  after  1830  at  a  rout,  where  Henri  de  Marsay  told  the 
story  of  his  first  love.  He  took  part  in  the  discussion,  and 
described  the  **true  woman  "  to  the  Comte  Adam  Laginski 
[Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\.  In  1832  he  was  received  by 
the  Marquise  d'Espard,  and  there  met  with  Madame  Mont- 
cornet,  the  love  of  his  childhood;  with  the  Princess  de  Cadig- 
nan.  Lady  Dudley,  MM.  d'Arthez,  Nathan,  Rastignac,  the 
Marquis  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  Maxima  de  Trailles,  the  Marquis 
d'Escrignon,  the  two  Vandenesses,  M.  du  Tillet,  Baron  de 
Nucingen,  and  Chevalier  d'Espard,  brother-in-law  to  the 
marquise  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ;sj]. 
Blondet  presented  Nathan  at  one  of  Mme.  de  Montcornet's 
"at  homes,"  where  the  young  Countess  Felix  de  Vandenesse 
knew  of  the  poet  and  his  intelligence  for  some  time  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  V\  In  1836  he  assisted,  with  Finot  and 
Couture,  at  the  narration  of  the  Nucingens'  beginnings,  told 
with  much  spirit  by  Bixiou  in  a  private  dining-room  of  a 
celebrated  restaurant  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f].  Eight  or 
ten  years  before  February,  1848,  Emile  Blondet  all  but  com- 
mitted suicide,  when  he  saw  a  total  change  in  his  surround- 
ings. He  was  appointed  prefect  and  married  the  rich  widow 
of  the  Comte  de  Montcornet,  who  made  him  the  offer  of  her 
hand  when  she  became  free.  He  had  known  and  loved  her 
in  his  childhood  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Blondet,  ViRGiNiE,  the  wife  on  her  second  marriage  of  Emile 
Blondet,  born  about  1797,  daughter  of  the  Vicomte  de  Trois- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  47 

ville;  granddaughter  of  the  Russian  Princesse  Scherbelloff. 
She  had  been  raised  at  Alengon  with  her  future  husband. 
In  1819  she  married  General  de  Montcornet,  and,  a  widow 
some  twenty  years  after,  she  married  the  love  of  her  child- 
hood, who  had  for  a  long  time  been  her  lover  [The  Collection 
of  Antiquities,  aa — The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadig- 
nan,  ^ — The  Peasantry,  jK].  In  1821,  in  concert  with  Mme. 
d'Espard,  she  worked  to  convert  Rubempre  to  the  monarch- 
ical idea  [A  Distinguished  Provincial,  31\  Soon  after  1830 
she  was  present  at  an  assembly  at  Mile,  des  Touches,  when 
Marsay  told  the  story  of  his  first  love,  and  she  joined  in  the 
conversation  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  T\.  She  received  a 
society  which,  from  an  aristocratic  point  of  view,  was  a  little 
mixed ;  where  were  to  be  found  the  celebrities  in  finance,  art, 
and  literature  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>Z>].  Madame  Felix 
de  Vandenesse  saw,  for  the  first  time  and  remarked  him,  the  poet 
Nathan  at  the  home  of  Mme.  de  Montcornet  [A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  Y\  Mme.  Emile  Blondet,  then  Generale  de  Mont- 
cornet, passed  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1823  in  Bourgogne, 
on  her  beautiful  estate  of  Aigues,  where  she  lived  a  worried 
and  agitated  life  in  the  midst  of  the  multiple  types  of  the 
peasants.  Remarried,  become  a  pr^fete,  she  returned,  under 
Louis-Philippe,  to  her  early  propriety  [The  Peasantry,  JK]- 

Bluteau,  Pierre,  the  name  borrowed  by  Genestas  [The 
Country  Doctor,  (7]. 

Bocquillon,  a  person  known  by  Madame  Etienne  Gruget ; 
in  1820,  Rue  des  En  fan  ts- Rouges,  Paris,  she  took  for  her 
fiduciary  agent  Jules  Desmarets  into,  her  home  [The  Thir- 
teen, B^ — Ferragus,  hh\ 

Bogseck,  Madame  van,  the  name  given  by  Jacques 
Collin  to  Esther  van  Gobseck ;  some  time  in  1825,  he  gave 
her,  transformed  intellectually  and  morally,  to  Lucien  de  Ru- 
bempre, in  an  elegant  suite  of  rooms  on  the  Rue  Tailbout 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 

Boirouge,  president  of  the  court  at  Sancerre,  at  the  time 


48  COMPENDIUM 

when  the  Baronne  de  la  Baudraye  reigned  in  that  town.  Re- 
lated by  his  wife  to  the  Popinot-Chandiers,  Judge  Popinot  of 
Paris,  and  to  Anselme  Popinot.  Owner  by  inheritance  of  a 
house  for  which  he  had  no  use,  he  rented  it  with  impressment 
to  the  baroness,  to  establish  therein  a  literary  society,  which 
speedily  dissolved  in  that  vulgar  circle.  President  Boirouge 
out  of  jealousy  was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  election  of  the 
procurear  Clagny  as  a  deputy.  He  passed  for  being  quick 
in  repartee  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Boirouge,  Madame,  formerly  Popinot-Chandier,  wife  of 
the  preceding ;  an  important  member  of  the  middle-classes. 
After  having  been  for  nine  years  at  the  head  of  an  opposition 
to  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  she  was  persuaded  by  her  son  Gatien 
to  attend  her  receptions,  where  she  was  so  flattered  that  her 
good  graces  were  completely  won.  Profiting  by  the  sojourn 
of  Bianchon  at  Sancerre,  a  relative  of  hers,  she  obtained  a 
free  consultation  with  that  famous  physician,  explaining  to 
him  all  about  her  melancholy  nerves  in  the  stomach,  and 
in  which  he  recognized  a  periodical  indigestion  [Muse  of  the 
Department,  CC\ 

Boirouge,  Gatien,  son  of  President  Boirouge ;  born  in 
1814,  the  youngest  ^^ patiio^^  of  Madame  de  la  Baudraye, 
who  employed  him  in  all  kinds  of  little  offices.  Gatien 
Boirouge  was  played  by  Lousteau,  to  whom  he  had  confided 
his  love  for  that  superior  woman  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 

Boisfranc,  de,  attorney-general,  then  first  president  of  a 
Royal  Court  under  the  Restoration.     See  Dubut. 

Boisfranc,  Dubut  de,  president  of  the  Cour  des  Aides, 
under  the  old  regime,  brother  of  Dubut  de  Boisfrelon  and  of 
Dubut  de  Boislaurier  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Boisfrelon,  Dubut  de,  brother  of  Dubut  de  Boisfranc 
and  of  Dubut  de  Boislaurier ;  once  a  councilor  in  the  parle- 
ment,  born  in  1736,  died  1832,  in  the  house  of  his  niece,  the 
Baroness  de    la   Chanterie.     His  successor  was   Godefroid. 


COZIEDIE   HUMAINE.  49 

M.  de  Boisfrelon  had  been  one  of  the  ''  Brothers  of  Conso- 
lation." He  was  married,  but  his  wife  probably  died  before 
him  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Boislaurier,  Dubut  de,  youngest  brother  of  Dubut  de 
Boisfranc  and  of  Dubut  de  Boisfrelon.  Supreme  chief  of  the 
rebels  of  the  West  in  1808-9  and  designated  at  that  time  by 
the  name  of  Auguste.  He  organized,  with  Rifoel,  Chevalier 
du  Vissard,  the  affair  of  the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne.  At  the 
time  of  the  trial  of  the  *' Brigands,"  he  was  contumaciously 
sentenced  to  death  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Bois-Levant,  the  chief  of  a  division  in  the  Bureau  of 
Finance,  1824,  at  the  time  when  Xavier  Rabourdin  and  Isidore 
Baudoyer  were  in  disputation  in  reference  to  the  succession 
of  another  division,  that  of  F.  de  la  Billardiere  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc\ 

Boleslas,  a  Pole  in  the  service  of  the  Comte  and  the 
Comtesse  Laginski,  Rue  de  la  Pepiniere,  Paris,  between  1835 
and  1842  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  }l\. 

Bonamy,  Ida,  aunt  of  Mile.  Antonia  Chocardelle.  Under 
Louis-Philippe  she  managed,  on  the  Rue  Coquenard,*  **a  few 
steps  from  the  Rue  Pigalle,"  a  reading-room  given  to  her 
niece  by  Maxime  de  Trailles  [A  Man  of  Business,  X\. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  Emperor  of  the  French ;  born  at 
Ajaccio,  August  15,  1769  or  1768,  there  being  two  accounts 
of  the  year;  died  at  St.  Helena,  May  5,  1821.  In  October, 
1800,  being  then  First  Consul,  he  received  the  Corsican, 
Bartholomeo  di  Piombo,  and  rallied  his  compatriot  about  being 
compromised  in  a  vendetta  [The  Vendetta,  i].  On  October 
13,  1806,  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Jena,  he  was  joined  on 
the  field  by  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne,  who  came  thither  ex- 
press from  France  ;  he  pardoned  the  Simeuses  and  Hauteserres, 
compromised  in  the  abduction  of  Senator  Malin  de  Gondre- 
ville  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\  We  see  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte strongly  interested  in  his  lieutenant  Hyacinthe-Chabert 
*  Since  February,  1848,  Rue  Lamartine. 


50  COMPENDIUM 

during  the  battle  at  Eylau  [Colonel  Chabert,  i\  In  November, 
i8o'9,  he  was  expected  at  the  great  ball  given  by  Senator 
Malin  de  Gondreville,  but  he  was  detained  by  a  scene,  which 
became  noised  about  that  same  evening,  between  himself 
and  Josephine  at  the  Tuileries ;  this  led  to  their  divorce 
[The  Peace  of  the  House,  J].  He  excused  the  infamous 
doings  of  the  detective  Contenson  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T\  In  April,  1813,  during  a  review  in  the  Place  du 
Carrousel,  Paris,  Napoleon  noticed  Mile,  de  Chatillonest, 
who  had  gone  there  with  her  father  to  see  the  handsome 
Colonel  d'Aiglemont,  and  turning  toward  Duroc  he  made  a 
courteous  remark  which  made  the  grand  marshal  smile  [A 
Woman  of  Thirty,  H\ 

Bonaparte,  Lucien,  born  in  1775,  died  1840,  brother  of 
Napoleon  Bonaparte.  In  June,  1800,  he  went  to  Talleyrand's 
house  and  announced  to  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  in  the 
presence  of  Fouche,  Sieyes,  and  Carnot,  his  brother's  vic- 
tory at  Montebello  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\  In  October 
the  same  year  he  was  met  by  his  compatriot  Bartholomeo  di 
Piombo,  whom  he  introduced  to  the  First  Consul,  giving  his 
purse  to  the  Corsican  and  afterward  contributed  funds  to  him 
to  bring  him  out  of  his  difficulties  [The  Vendetta,  %\. 

Bonfalot  or  Bonvalot,  Madame,  an  old  woman,  the 
relative  of  F.  du  Bruel,  Paris.  In  1834  La  Palferine,  who 
for  the  first  time  met  Mme.  du  Bruel  on  the  boulevard,  auda- 
ciously followed  her  to  the  house  of  Mme.  de  Bonfalot,  whither 
she  went  to  make  a  call  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  'FF\ 

Bonfons,  Cruchot  de,  born  in  1786,  a  nephew  of  the 
notary  Cruchot  and  Abb6  Cruchot ;  president  of  the  court  of 
First  Instance  at  Saumur,  1819.  The  three  Cruchots,  sup- 
ported by  a  number  of  cousins,  in  conjunction  with  about 
twenty  families  of  the  town,  formed  a  party  like  that  formerly 
made  in  Florence  by  the  Medicis,  and,  like  the  Medicis,  the 
Cruchots  had  their  Pazzi,  which  were  the  Grassins.  The  prize 
in  the  struggle  between  the  Cruchots  and  the  Grassins  was 


comAdie  HUMAINE,  51 

the  hand  of  the  wealthy  heiress  Eugenie  Grandet.  In  1827, 
after  nine  years  of  v/aiting,  President  Cruchot  de  Bonfons 
married  the  young  girl,  who  was  an  orphan.  Before  this  he 
had  been  instructed  by  her  to  settle  in  full,  capital  and  inter- 
est, with  the  creditors  of  Charles  Grandet's  father.  Six 
months  after  his  marriage,  Bonfons  was  appointed  councilor 
to  the  Royal  Court  at  Angers ;  by  his  signal  devotion  he 
became  first  president.  Elected  deputy  for  Saumur  in  1832, 
he  died  eight  days  after,  leaving  his  widow  in  possession  of 
an  immense  fortune,  further  augmented  by  the  inheritances 
of  the  abbe  and  notary  Cruchots.  Bonfons  was  the  name  of 
an  estate  belonging  to  this  magistrate  ;  he  did  not  marry 
Eugenie  out  of  cupidity;  he  had  the  appearance  of  "  a  big 
rusty  nail"  [Eugenie  Grandet,  J5J]. 

Bonfons,  Eugenie  Cruchot  de,  only  daughter  of  M. 
and  Mme.  Felix  Grandet,  born  at  Saumur,  1796.  Strictly 
raised  by  a  gentle  and  pious  mother  and  by  a  miserly  father, 
her  life  had  no  other  love  than  an  absolutely  platonic  one  for 
her  cousin,  Charles  Grandet ;  but  this  young  man,  when  once 
apart  from  her,  forgot  her,  and  returning  very  wealthy  from 
the  Indies,  1827,  he  married  a  young  girl  belonging  to  the 
nobility.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Eugenie  Grandet  became 
an  orphan  ;  after  seeing  the  settlement  made  with  the  creditors 
of  Charles'  father,  she  gave  her  hand  to  President  Cruchot 
de  Bonfons,  who  had  sought  her  for  nine  years.  At  thirty- 
six,  she  remained  a  widow  without  ceasing  to  be  a  virgin  ;  fol- 
lowing her  often-expressed  wish,  she  sadly  retired  to  her 
sombre  paternal  house  at  Saumur  and  devoted  the  remainder 
of  her  life  to  works  of  benevolence  and  charity.  After  the 
death  of  her  father,  Eugenie  Grandet  was  often  designated  by 
the  Cruchots  and  their  partisans  by  the  name  of  ''  Mademoi- 
selle Froidfond,"  the  name  of  one  of  her  estates.  They  tried 
to  get  her  to  marry  the  Marquis  de  Froidfond,  a  ruined  man, 
a  widower  with  many  children  and  more  than  fifty  years  old, 
in  1832  [Eugenie  Grandet,  J5J]. 


52  COMPENDIUM 

Bongrand,  born  in  1769,  at  one  time  a  barrister  at  Melun, 
then  a  justice  of  the  peace  at  Nemours,  from  181 4  to  1837. 
A  friend  of  Dr.  Minoret's,  he  looked  after  the  education  of 
Ursule  Mirouet,  the  protege  of  his  best  friend,  after  the  death 
of  the  old  physician,  and  helped  in  the  restitution  of  her  for- 
tune, which  Minoret-Levrault  had  impaired  by  the  theft  of 
the  doctor's  will.  M.  Bongrand  wished  Ursule  Mirouet  to 
marry  his  son,  but  she  loved  Savinien  de  Portenduere  ;  the 
justice  of  the  peace  became  president  of  the  court  at  Melun 
after  the  marriage  of  the  young  girl  to  Savinien  [Ursule 
Mirouet,  JT]. 

Bongrand,  Eugene,  son  of  Judge  Bongrand.  He  studied 
law  in  Paris,  in  the  office  of  the  barrister  Derville ;  became 
public  prosecutor  at  Melun,  after  the  revolution  of  1830,  and 
attorney-general  in  1837;  not  being  able  to  marry  Ursule 
Mirouet,  he  probably  married  the  daughter  of  M.  Leverault,  at 
one  time  mayor  of  Nemours  [Ursule  Mirouet,  SL\ 

Bonnac,  a  very  handsome  young  man,  head  clerk  of  the 
notary  Lupin,  at  Soulanges,  1823.  He  had  no  other  means 
than  those  from  his  appointment ;  he  was  platonically  loved 
by  his  patroness,  Mme.  Lupin,  called  Bebelle,  a  ridiculous, 
fat  woman  of  no  education  [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Bonnebault,  a  former  cavalry  soldier,  the  Lovelace  of  the 
village  of  Blangy  (Bourgogne)  and  vicinity,  1823.  Bonne- 
bault, the  lover,  of  Marie  Tonsard,  who  was  crazy  after  him, 
had  "other  good  lovers,"  and  he  lived  at  their  expense; 
their  liberality  was  not  sufficient  for  his  dissipations,  his  ex- 
penditures at  the  cafe,  and  his  immoderate  liking  for  billiards. 
He  dreamed  of  marrying  Aglae  Socquard,  the  only  daughter 
of  Father  Socquard,  owner  of  the  Cafe  of  the  Peace,  at 
Soulanges.  Bonnebault  was  given  three  thousand  francs  by 
General  de  Montcornet,  and  he  acknowledged  to  him,  spon- 
taneously, that  he  had  been  instructed  to  kill  him  for  that 
same  amount.  This  confession  caused  the  general  to  abandon 
his  struggle  with  the  savage  peasantry  \  he  put  his  property  up 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  53 

for  sale,  and  it  became  the  prey  of  Gaubertin,  Rigou,  and 
Soudry.  Bonnebault  was  ^'cock-eyed,"  and  his  physical 
appearance  attested  to  his  dissipations  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Bonnebault,  Mother,  grandmother  of  the  cavalryman 
Bonnebault.  She  had,  1823,  at  Conches,  Bourgogne,  where 
she  resided,  a  cow  which  she  fed  in  the  pasture  fields  of  General 
Montcornet ;  the  numerous  depredations  of  this  old  woman, 
covered  apparently  with  convictions  for  her  crimes,  decided 
the  general  to  seize  her  cow  [The  Peasantry,  If]. 

Bonnet,  Abbe,  cure  of  Montegnac,  near  Limoges,  since 
1 814.  He  there  assisted  in  this  quality  at  the  public  confes- 
sion of  Mme.  Graslin,  his  penitent,  in  the  summer  of  1844. 
Called  to  the  seminary  of  Saint-Sulpice,  in  Paris,  he  did  not 
wish  to  leave  the  village  where  he  had  been  sent  and  where, 
with  the  assistance  of  Mme.  Graslin,  he  had  materially 
ameliorated  the  welfare  and  morals  which  had  formerly  been 
so  wretched  in  that  country.  This  was  he  who  brought  the 
revolutionist  Tascheron  back  into  the  bosom  of  the  church, 
and  whom  he  accompanied  to  the  foot  of  the  scaffold  with  a 
true  devotion,  as  his  very  delicate  sensibility  suffered  much 
therefrom.  Born  in  1788,  he  had  embraced  an  ecclesiastical 
career  by  a  true  vocation,  and  all  his  studies  had  tended  to 
that  end.  He  belonged  to  a  family  that  was  in  more  than 
easy  circumstances  ;  his  father,  the  architect  of  his  own  for- 
tune, was  an  obdurate  and  inflexible  man.  The  Abbe  Bonnet 
had  an  elder  brother  and  one  sister,  whom  he  advised  his 
mother  to  get  married  as  soon  as  possible,  so  as  to  free  the 
young  girl  from  the  terrible  paternal  yoke  [The  Country 
Parson,  _F]. 

Bonnet,  eldest  brother  of  Abbe  Bonnet,  voluntarily  en- 
listed as  a  common  soldier,  about  the  commencement  of  the 
Empire;  a  general  in  1813,  he  was  killed  at  Leipsic  [The 
Country  Parson,  F\ 

Bonnet,  Germain,  valet  to  Canalis,  1829,  at  the  time 
when  the  poet  went  to  Havre  as  one  of  the  claimants  to  the 


54  COMPENDIUM 

hand  of  Modeste  Mignon.  A  servant  filled  to  the  brim  with 
smartness,  of  irreproachable  dress  and  manner,  he  was  of  great 
value  to  his  master.  He  courted  Philoxene  Jacmin,  Mme.  de 
Chaulieu's  maid.  The  pantry  imitated  the  drawing-room, 
the  academician  having  the  great  lady  for  his  mistress  [Mo- 
deste Mignon,  JST]. 

Bontems,  a  rural  owner  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bayeux, 
where  he  became  very  rich  under  the  Revolution,  by  buying 
at  his  own  price  the  national  lands.  This  was  a  dark-red 
bonnet ;  he  was  president  of  his  district.  The  father  of  An- 
g61ique  Bontems,  who  married,  under  the  Empire,  Granville. 
Bontems  was  dead  at  the  time  of  this  marriage  [A  Second 
Home,  z\. 

Bontems,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  of  great  out- 
ward piety  and  considerable  vanity;  mother  of  Angelique 
Bontems,  whom  she  had  raised  in  her  opinions  and  whose 
marriage  with  a  Granville  was  thus  so  unhappy  [A  Second 
Home,  z\ 

Bontems,  Angelique.     See  Granville,  Madame  de. 

Borain,  Mademoiselle,  the  most  skillful  dressmaker  in 
Provins,  in  the  time  of  Charles  X.,  was  commissioned  by  the 
Rogrons  to  make  a  complete  trousseau  for  Pierrette  Lorrain, 
when  that  young  girl  was  sent  from  Bretagne  [Pierrette,  l]. 

Bordevin,  Madame,  a  butcher  on  the  Rue  Chariot,  Paris, 
at  the  time  when  Sylvain  Pons  lived  on  the  Rue  de  Normandie, 
near  there.  Mme.  Bordevin  was  a  relative  of  Mme.  Sabatier 
[Cousin  Pons,  q6\. 

Bordin,  procureur  at  the  Chdtelet  before  the  Revolution ; 
then  a  barrister  in  the  court  of  First  Instance  of  the  Seine, 
under  the  Empire.  In  1798  he  taught  and  advised  M.  Alain, 
a  creditor  of  Mongenod's  ;  both  had  been  clerks  in  his  office. 
In  t8o6  the  Marquis  de  Chargeboeuf  went  to  Paris  to  find 
Maitre  Bordin,  who  defended  the  Simeuses  before  the  Crimi- 
nal Court  at  Troyes,  in  the  affair  of  the  sequestration  and 
abduction  of  Senator  Malin.    In  1809  he  also  defended  Hen- 


comAdie  HVMAINE.  55 

riette  Bryond  of  Tours-Mineres,  nee  La  Chanterie,  in  the 
matter  called  the  Chauffeurs  of  Montague  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery, j(f— The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T].  In  1816  Bordin 
was  consulted  by  Madame  d'Espard  on  the  subject  of  her 
•husband  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c\.  Under  the  Res- 
toration, a  banker  of  Alen^on  counted  out,  every  three 
months,  to  the  Chevalier  de  Valois,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
livres  sent  from  Paris  by  Bordin  [The  Old  Maid,  a(i\. 
Bordin  was  for  ten  years  the  barrister  of  the  nobility;  he 
had  as  a  successor  Derville  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

A  M.  Bordin,  JeroQie-Sebastien,  also  a  procureur  at  the 
Chatelet,  in  1806,  a  barrister  in  the  court  of  the  Seine,  suc- 
ceeded Maitre  Guerbet  and  sold  his  practice  to  Sauvagnest, 
who  disposed  of  it  to  Desroches  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Born,  CoMTE  de,  brother  of  the  Vicomtesse  de  Grand- 
lieu.  He  is  found  at  the  home  of  his  sister,  in  the  winter  of 
1829-30,  taking  part  in  a  conversation  in  which  the  advocate 
Derville  tells  of  the  unhappy  marital  relations  of  M.  de  Res- 
taud  ;  also  the  history  of  his  will  and  his  death.  The  Comte 
de  Born  took  the  word  and  explained  the  character  of  Maxima 
de  Trailles,  the  lover  of  Madame  de  Restaud  [Gobseck,  g\ 

Borniche,  son-in-law  of  M.  Hochon,  the  old  miser  at 
Issoudon.  He  died  of  chagrin  at  having  bad  luck  in  his 
business  and  at  not  receiving  any  assistance  from  his  father 
and  mother ;  his  wife  preceded,  tliough  he  soon  followed  her 
to  the  tomb ;  he  left  a  son  and  one  daughter,  Baruch  and 
Adolphine,  who  were  raised,  by  their  grandfather  on  the  ma- 
ternal side,  with  Francois  Hochon,  another  grandchild  of  the 
goodman.  Borniche  had  become  a  Calvinist  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  «/]. 

Borniche,  M.  and  Madame,  father  and  mother  of  the 
preceding.  They  were  still  living  in  1823,  although  their 
son  and  daughter-in-law  had  been  dead  for  a  long  time ;  in 
the  month  of  April  in  that  year,  old  Madame  Borniche  and  her 
friend  Madame  Hochon,  who  were  persons  of  authority  in 


56  COMPENDIUM 

Issoudon,  assisted  at  the  marriage  of  la  Rabouilleuse  to  Jean- 
Jacques  Rouget  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Borniche,  Baruch,  grandson  of  the  foregoing  and  of  M. 
and  Mme.  Hochon.  Born  in  1800,  he  early  became  an 
orphan,  but  was  raised  along  with  his  sister  by  his  maternal 
grandfather.  He  was  one  of  those  misled  by  Maxence  Gilet 
and  was  a  participant  in  all  the  nocturnal  expeditions  of  the 
*'  Knights  of  Idlesse."  When  his  grandfather  learned  of  his 
misconduct,  1822,  he  hurriedly  sent  him  from  Issoudun  to 
learn  banking  in  Paris  under  Mongenod  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, «7]. 

Borniche,  Adolphine,  sister  of  Baruch  Borniche;  born 
in  1804.  Brought  up  mostly  in  seclusion  in  the  cold  and 
monotonous  household  of  her  grandfather  Hochon,  she  was 
always  looking  out  the  windows,  in  the  hope  of  penetrating 
something  of  the  enormities  which,  according  to  repute,  went 
on  in  the  house  of  Jean-Jacques  Rouget,  a  neighbor  of  her 
grandfather's.  She  awaited  with  impatience  the  arrival  of 
Joseph  Bridau  at  Issoudun,  trusting  to  inspire  him  with  some 
sentiment,  and  took  the  greatest  interest  in  life  in  the  painter, 
both  for  his  ugly  appearance  and  in  his  quality  as  an  artist 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J"]. 

Borniche-Herau,  or  Hereau,  the  name  of  one  of  the 
best  families  in  Issoudun  under  the  Restoration  ;  Carpentier, 
a  cavalry  officer  who  retired  to  this  town,  was  married  to  a 
Borniche-Herau  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Borromeo,  Comte,  owner  of  two  islands  in  the  Great 
Lake,  at  the  commencement  of  the  nineteenth  century.  A 
character  in  '*  Ambitious  Through  Love,"  a  novel  written 
by  Albert  Savarus  for  his  journal,  the  *^  Revue  de  I'Est,"  in 
1834  [Albert  Savaron, /]. 

Boucard,  head  clerk  to  Derville  the  attorney,  18 18,  at  the 
time  when  Colonel  Chabert  sought  to  recover  his  rights  in 
connection  with  his  wife,  who  was  remarried  to  Comte 
Ferraud  [Colonel  Chabert,  i]. 


comAdie  hum  a  in E.  57 

Bouchardon,  a  sculptor  to  the  royal  family,  the  tutor  and 
protector  of  Sarrasine  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II.]. 

Boucher,  a  merchant  of  Besan9on,  1834,  was  Albert 
Savarus'  first  client  in  that  town  and  was  the  financial  director 
of  the  "Revue  de  I'Est,"  founded  by  that  barrister.  M. 
Boucher  was  allied  to  the  greatest  publisher  of  the  leading 
ecclesiastical  works  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Boucher,  Alfred,  the  eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  a  young 
man  hungry  for  literary  fame,  placed  by  Albert  Savarus  on  the 
editorial  staff  of  his  "Revue  de  I'Est,"  who  furnished  him 
with  ideas  and  gave  him  the  subjects  for  his  articles.  Alfred 
Boucher  had  great  admiration  for  his  editor-in-chief,  who  had 
gained  his  esteem.  The  first  number  of  the  "  Review"  con- 
tained a  "  meditation  "  by  Alfred.  This  Alfred  Boucher  be- 
lieved that  he  was  exploiting  Savarus,  whereas  the  contrary  was 
the  case  [Albert  Savaron,  f\ 

Boudet,  a  celebrated  pharmacist  of  Paris,  who  embalmed 
the  body  of  M.  de  I'Estorade,  who  died  1841. 

Bouffe,  Marie,  alias  Vignol,  an  actor,  born  in  Paris, 
September  4,  1800;  he  played,  about  1822,  in  the  Panorama- 
Dramatique  theatre,  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple,  Paris,  the 
part  of  the  alcade  in  a  piece  by  Raoul  Nathan  and  du  Bruel, 
entitled  "I'Alcade  dans  I'embarras  "  or  "The  Alcade  in  a 
Fix,"  an  imbroglio  in  three  acts;  on  the  evening  of  its  first 
presentation,  he  announced  the  authors  under  the  names  of 
Raoul  and  de  Cursy.  This  artist,  then  quite  young,  on  his 
first  appearance  in  this  r61e,  in  which  he  made  a  great  success, 
revealed  his  talent  as  a  portrayer  of  an  infirm  old  man.  Lu- 
cien  de  Rubempre'sskit  is  the  authority  for  this.  It  is  known 
that  the  Panorama-Dramatiqueofi"ered  the  peculiarity  of  a  cer- 
tain class.  This  theatre  faced  the  Rue  Chariot.  It  was  the 
house  in  which  Fieschi  shot  at  Louis-Philippe;  afterward  it 
was  under  the  proprietorship  of  Mourier,  of  the  Folies-Dra- 
matiques*  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JUT]. 
*  These  details  were  furnished  by  Madame  BoufF(§. 


58  COMPENDIUM 

Bougival,  La.     See  Cabirolle,  Madame. 

Bougniol,  Mesdemoiselles,  owners  at  Guerande,  Loire- 
Inferieure,  under  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe,  of  an  inn  where 
the  artist  friends  of  Felicite  des  Touches  (Camille  Maupin) 
lodged,  when  they  came  from  Paris  to  see  her  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Bourbonne,  De,  a  wealthy  property  owner  of  Tours,  in 
the  time  of  Louis  XVIIL  and  Charles  X.  The  uncle  of 
Octave  de  Camps;  he  went  to  Paris  in  1824  to  learn  the 
cause  of  his  nephew's  ruin,  which  was  generally  thought  to 
have  been  caused  by  Mme.  Firmiani.  M.  de  Bourbonne,  an 
old  musketeer,  was  of  high  connections ;  he  had  relatives  in 
the  faubourg  Saint-Germain — the  Listomeres,  the  Lenon- 
courts,  and  the  Vandenesses.  He  was  presented  to  Mme. 
Firmiani  under  the  name  of  M.  de  Rouxellay,  the  title  of  his 
estate.  Bourbonne's  intelligent  advice  was  not  to  drag  Fran- 
cois Birotteau  out  of  the  claws  of  Troubert,  for  the  uncle  of 
M.  de  Camps  guessed  the  dark  scheme  of  the  future  bishop 
of  Troyes.  Bourbonne  saw  further  than  the  Listomeres  of 
Tours  [Madame  Firmiani,  Ji — The  Celibates,  1\ 

Bourdet,  Benjamin,  an  old  soldier  of  the  Empire,  at 
another  time  under  the  orders  of  Philippe  Bridau.  He  re- 
tired to  the  vicinity  of  Vatan  and  with  Fario,  holding  himself 
at  the  absolute  disposition  of  the  Spaniard,  1822,  together 
with  an  officer  whom  he  had  formerly  been  of  use  to,  who 
secretly  served  in  the  projects  against  Maxence  Gilet  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Bourgeat,  a  male  child  found  at  Saint-Flour.  A  water- 
carrier  in  Paris  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a 
friend  of  the  young  and  the  benefactor  of  the  famous  surgeon 
Desplein.  He  lived  in  a  poor  house  on  the  Rue  Quatre- 
Vents,  doubly  celebrated  for  being  the  place  of  sojourn  of 
Desplein  and  that  of  Daniel  d'Arthez.  A  fervent  Catholic 
of  strong  faith.  His  eyes  were  closed  by  the  future  savant, 
who  sat  by  his  bedside  [The  Atheist's  Mass,  c]. 

Bourget,  uncle  of  the  Chaussard  brothers ;  an  old  man 


CO  ME  DIE   HUMAINE.  59 

implicated  in  the  matter  of  the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne  in 
1809.  He  died  during  the  preliminary  inquiry,  having  con- 
fessed. His  wife,  also  prosecuted,  was  brought  before  the 
court,  condemned,  and  sentenced  to  twenty-two  years'  im- 
prisonment [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Bourgneufs,  The,  a  family  ruined  by  the  Messrs.  Camps, 
who  lived  retired  and  poor  in  Laye  at  Saint-Germain,  in  the 
opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  family  com- 
prised the  old  father,  who  managed  a  lottery  office ;  the 
mother,  nearly  always  ill ;  and  two  charming  daughters,  who 
conducted  the  household  and  assisted  in  the  writing.  The 
Bourgneufs  got  a  mitigation  of  their  poverty  from  Octave  de 
Camps,  who,  at  Mme.  Firmiani's  prompting,  made  restitution 
of  their  fortune  despoiled  by  his  father  [Madame  Firmiani,  }i\. 

Bourguier,  Du.     See  Bousquier,  Du. 

Bourignard,  Gratien-Henri-Victor-Jean-Joseph,  father 
of  Mme.  Jules  Desmarets ;  one  of  the  *' Thirteen  "  and  the 
former  head  of  the  order  of  '*  Devorants  "  under  the  name  of 
Ferragus  XXIH.  He  had  been  a  workingman,  but  became 
a  speculative  builder ;  his  daughter  was  a  society  woman. 
Condemned,  about  1807,  to  twenty  years  at  hard  labor,  he 
managed  to  escape  during  the  transportation  of  the  chain- 
gang  from  Paris  to  Toulon  and  returned  to  Paris.  He  lived 
there  in  1820,  under  divers  names  and  disguises,  residing  by 
turns  on  the  Vieux-Augustins,*  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Soly,f  then  on  the  Rue  Joquelet,  No.  7 ;  and  lastly  at  Mme. 
E.  Gruget's  house.  No.  12  Rue  des  Enfants-Rouges,J  having 
changed  to  this  place  to  escape  the  investigations  of  Auguste 
de  Maulincour.  Stricken  by  the  death  of  his  daughter,  whom 
he  adored,  and  with  whom  he  had  kept  a  secret  correspond- 

*  Now  the  Rue  d' Argout. 

f  This  narrow  street  disappeared  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  H6tel  des 
Postes. 

X  This  is  now  a  portion  of  the  Rue  des  Archives  running  from  the  Rue 
Pastourelle  to  the  Rue  Portfoin, 


60  COMPENDIUM 

ence  to  prevent  her  origin  being  known  and  thus  compromis- 
ing that  young  woman ;  he  ended  on  the  Place  de  TObserva- 
toire,  looking  on  as  an  idiot  would  at  the  playing  of  bowls 
on  the  vacant  lots  between  the  Luxembourg  and  the  Boulevard 
du  Montparnasse,  of  which  game  this  was  then  the  headquar- 
ters. One  of  the  names  of  Bourignard  was  Comte  de  Funcal. 
In  1815  Bourignard,  as  Ferragus,  served  Henri  de  Marsay,  one 
of  the  *' Thirteen,"  in  an  enterprise  at  the  San-Real  mansion, 
where  lived  Paquita  Valdes  [The  Thirteen — Ferragus,  hb — 
The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds^  II.]. 

Bourlac,  Bernard- J ean-Baptiste-Macloud,  Baron  de; 
born  in  1771 ;  a  former  public  prosecutor  of  the  Court  Royal 
of  Rouen,  grand  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  He  married 
for  love  the  daughter  of  Tarlowski  (the  Pole,  a  colonel  in  the 
Imperial  French  Guard),  Vanda,  who  became  the  Baronne 
de  Mergi.  Old  and  in  retirement,  he  went  to  Paris,  in  1829, 
to  care  for  Vanda,  who  was  afflicted  with  a  strange  and  ter- 
rible complaint.  After  being  established  for  some  years  with 
his  daughter  and  grandson  in  the  quarter  du  Roule,  he  lived, 
in  1838,  and  had  for  a  number  of  years,  in  straitened  circum- 
stances in  a  wretched  house  on  the  Boulevard  du  Montpar- 
nasse, where  Godefroid,  a  new  *' initiate"  of  the  Brothers  of 
Consolation,  extended  succor  to  him  on  behalf  of  Mme.  de 
la  Chanterie  and  her  associates.  It  was  afterward  learned 
that  Baron  de  Bourlac  was  the  terrible  judge  who  had  con- 
demned that  noble  woman  and  her  daughter,  at  the  trial  of 
the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne,  in  1809.  The  assistance  was 
nevertheless  continued.  Vanda,  thanks  to  the  care  of  a  for- 
eign doctor,  was  cured — this  man,  Halpersohn,  was  engaged 
by  Godefroid.  M.  de  Bourlac  was  the  author  of  a  great  work 
on  "The  Spirit  of  Modern  Law":  he  obtained  through  this 
the  chair  of  Comparative  Legislation  at  the  Sorbonne  ;  he  was 
finally  pardoned  by  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  at  whose  feet 
he  had  flung  himself  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T].  In 
181 7  Baron  de  Bourlac,  then  attorney-general,  to  which  he 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  61 

was  raised  again  by  Soudry  junior,  the  keeper  of  the  seals, 
helped  by  his  favor  to  have  Sibilet  made  the  bailiff  of  General 
de  Montcornet's  estates  at  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  22], 

Bournier,  a  natural  son  of  Gaubertin  and  Madame  Soc- 
quard,  the  wife  of  the  proprietor  of  the  cafe  at  Soulanges. 
Mme.  Gaubertin  was  ignorant  of  his  existence.  He  went  to 
Paris  and  learned  the  trade  of  printer  in  Leclercq's  office; 
when  a  thorough  workman,  he  was  called  by  Gaubertin  to 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  where  he  founded  a  printing  establishment 
and  a  newspaper,  "  le  Courrier  de  TAvonne,"  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  interests  of  the  triumvirate  Rigou,  Gaubertin, 
and  Soudry  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Bousquier,  Du,  or  Croisier,  du,  or  Bourguier,  du, 
born  about  1760,  of  an  old  family  of  Alen^on.  He  had  been 
a  provender  contractor  to  the  armies  of  1793  and  1799,  ^^^ 
done  business  with  Guvrard,  and  was  also  in  league  with 
Barras,  Bernadotte,  and  Fouche.  These  at  that  time  were 
the  great  personages  of  the  exchequer.  Dismissed  by  Bona- 
parte in  1800,  he  retired  to  his  native  town,*  not  having  more 
than  twelve  hundred  francs  of  income,  after  having  sold  for 
the  benefit  of  his  creditors  the  hotel  de  Beauseant,  of  which 
he  was  the  owner.  About  1816  he  married  Mademoiselle 
Carmon,  an  old  maid  who  had  also  been  courted  by  Chevalier 
de  Valois  and  Athanase  Granson.  Becoming  again  wealthy 
by  this  marriage,  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Opposition  ; 
he  founded  a  Liberal  newspaper,  "  Le  Courrier  de  TOrme," 
and  was  nominated,  after  the  Revolution  of  1830,  as  receiver- 
general.  He  w£(ged  an  anarchical  war  against  the  white  flag 
of  Royalism,  and,  out  of  hatred  to  them,  secretly  connived  at 
the  excesses  of  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  ;  at  the  moment  when 
the  young  man  had  committed  a  crime  against  him,  he  had 

*  On  the  Rue  du  Cygne,  which  still  exists  under  the  same  name.  This 
precise  information,  with  other  remarks  concerning  Alen^on,  is  furnished 
by  one  of  our  friends,  M.  Charles  N6,  who  for  four  years  played  in  "  Les 
Carbonari "  in  the  Theatre  des  Nations  at  that  place. 


62  COMPENDIUM 

him  arrested,  thinking  that  he  was  thus  entirely  done  for. 
The  affair  was  settled  by  means  of  powerful  influences ;  but 
the  young  man  provoked  him  to  a  duel  in  which  he  was 
grievously  wounded,  and  afterward  married  his  niece,  Made- 
.■noiselle  Duval,  who  had  a  dot  of  three  million  francs  [The 
Old  Maid,  aa — The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  a(l\.  He  was 
probably  the  father  of  Flavie  Minoret,  the  daughter  of  a  fa- 
mous dancer  at  the  opera;  but  he  did  not  recognize  the  child, 
who  was  dowered  by  Princesse  Galathionne  and  married  Col- 
leville  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\m 

Bousquier,  Madame  du,  Rose- Marie- Victoire  Cormon, 
born  in  1773.  A  very  wealthy  heiress;  she  lived  with  her 
maternal  uncle.  Abbe  de  Sponde,  in  a  old  house  at  Alengon,* 
in  1 816,  where  she  received  the  aristocracy  of  the  town,  to 
which  she  belonged  by  marriage.  Sought  at  once  by  Atha- 
nase  Granson,  Chevalier  de  Valois,  and  M.  du  Bosquier,  she 
gave  her  hand  to  the  old  commissary  contractor,  who  had  an 
athletic  appearance  and  vaguely  passed  as  an  impressionable 
libertine,  but  whom  she  found  wanting  in  being  able  to  ful- 
fill her  secret  hope ;  the  thought  that  she  would  never  be  able 
to  bear  a  child  almost  killed  this  woman.  Madame  du  Bous- 
quier was  very  religious.  She  was  a  descendant  of  the  stewards 
of  the  ancient  Dukes  of  Alengon.  In  the  same  year  of  her 
marriage  she  thought  she  would  be  able  to  wed  with  a  Trois- 
ville,  but  he  was  already  married.  She  looked  with  pain  on 
the  state  of  hostility  declared  by  M.  du  Bousquier  against  the 
Esgrignons  [Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  A.A\. 

Boutin,  formerly  a  quartermaster  in  the  cavalry  regiment 
of  which  Chabert  was  the  colonel.  He  lived  at  Stuttgard  in 
1814,  where  he  showed  a  white  bear  that  was  well  trained  by 
him.  In  that  town  he  met  his  old  colonel,  deprived  of  all 
possessions,  going  to  the  insane  asylum ;  he  was  relieved  by 
him  and  charged   to  go  to  Paris  to  acquaint   Mme.  Chabert 

*  The  Rue  du  Val-Noble,  really  at  Avesg6. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  63 

that  her  husband  still  lived.  Boutin,  who  was  killed  at  Water- 
loo, no  doubt  accomplished  his  mission  [Colonel  Chabert,  i]. 

Bouvard,  Doctor,  a  physician  in  Paris,  born  about  1758. 
A  friend  of  Dr.  Minoret,  with  whom  he  had  lively  discussions 
on  Mesraer's  doctrine,  whose  system  he  had  adopted,  and  of 
which  he  afterward  proved  the  truth  to  Minoret.  These  argu- 
ments finished  by  causing  the  friends  to  avoid  each  other  for 
a  long  time.  Finally,  in  1829,  Bouvard  wrote  Minoret  asking 
him  to  come  to  Paris  and  take  part  in  a  conclusive  test  in 
animal  magnetism.  As  a  result  of  this  experience,  Doctor 
Minoret,  who  was  an  atheist  and  materialist,  became  a  spiritu- 
alist* and  a  Catholic.  In  1829,  Doctor  Bouvard  lived  on  the 
Rue  Ferou  [Ursule  Mirouet,  J2"].  He  had  been  of  use  to 
the  father  of  Dr.  Lebrun,  physician  at  the  Conciergerie  in 
1830,  which  place  soon  after  became  his  own  ;  he  often  applied 
the  ideas  of  his  master  to  the  nervous  forces  [Vautrin's  Last 
Avatar,  ^. 

Bouyonnet,  an  attorney  at  Mantes,  under  Louis-Philippe ; 
urged  by  his  companions  and  stimulated  by  the  keeper  of  the 
seals,  he  stigmatized  Fraisier,  also  an  attorney  in  that  town, 
who  had  been  '*  retained"  by  the  two  parties  in  one  suit. 
This  denunciation  compelled  Fraisier  to  sell  his  practice  and 
leave  Mantes  [Cousin  Pons,  Q&\. 

Brambourg,  Comte  de,  Philippe  Bridau's  title,  to  which 
his  brother  Joseph  succeeded  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  eT" 
— The  Unconscious  Mummers,  le]. 

Brandon,  Lady  Marie- Augusta,  the  mother  of  Louis 
and  Mane  Gaston,  children  born  in  adultery.  Together  with 
Vicomtesse  de  Beauseant,  she  assisted,  accompanied  by  Colonel 
Franchessini,  most  likely  her  lover,  at  the  famous  ball  on  the 
morning  following  which  the  late  mistress  of  Ajuda-Pinto 
suddenly  left  Paris  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  In  1820  she  retired 
to  la  Grenadiere,  near  Tours,  with  her  two  children ;  she  saw 
Felix  de  Vandenesse  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Mme.  de  Mort- 
*  Balzac  explains  this  word  as  meaning  opposed  to  materialism. 


64  COMPENDIUM 

saul,  and  charged  him  with  a  message  to  take  to  Lady  Arabelle 
Dudley  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X].  She  died  at  thirty-six, 
under  the  Restoration,  in  the  house  of  la  Grenadiere,  and 
was  buried  in  Saint-Cyr  cemetery.  Her  husband,  Lord 
Brandon,  who  had  deserted  her,  at  that  time  lived  in  London, 
at  Brandon  Square,  Hyde  Park.  He  did  not  know  that  Lady 
Brandon  was  in  Touraine,  or  that  the  name  she  probably  went 
under  was  Madame  Willemsens  [La  Grenadiere,  j\ 

Braschon,  an  upholsterer  or  cabinet-maker  in  the  faubourg 
Saint-Antoine,  celebrated  under  the  Restoration.  He  did 
some  first-class  work  for  C6sar  Birotteau  and  figured  amongst 
the  creditors  at  his  failure  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y\ 

Braulard,  born  in  1782.  Head  of  the  claque  at  the  Pano- 
rama-Dramatique  theatre,  about  1822,  then  at  the  Gymnase; 
being  at  the  time  Mile.  Millot's  lover ;  at  that  epoch  he  lived 
on  the  Rue  Faubourg  du  Temple,  in  a  pleasant  flat,  where  he 
gave  dinners  to  actresses,  directors,  journalists,  and  authors ; 
among  such  being :  Ad^le  Dupuis,  Finot,  Ducange,  and 
Frederic  du  Petit-Mere.  He  was  supposed  to  make  an  annual 
income  of  twenty  thousand  francs  in  discounting  authors' 
acceptances  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  31~\. 
About  1843,  while  still  chief  claquer,  he  had  in  his  company 
Chardin,  known  as  Idamore  [Cousin  Betty,  %if\.  and  com- 
manded his  **  Romans"  at  the  Boulevard  theatre — where 
opera  and  ballets  were  produced  at  popular  prices — and  of 
which  Felix  Gaudissart  was  manager  [Cousin  Pons,  a»]. 

Brazier,  Family,  The,  composed  of: 

A  peasant  of  Vatan,  Indre,  paternal  uncle  and  guardian  of 
Mile.  Flore  Brazier,  called  la  Rabouilleuse ;  in  1799  he 
placed  her  in  Dr.  Rouget's  house  on  conditions  very  favor- 
able to  him.  Brazier.  Made  comparatively  wealthy  by  the 
physician,  he  died  two  years  after  the  final  settlement,  1805, 
from  a  fall  as  he  emerged  from  a  tavern,  where  he  had  spent 
his  time  since  getting  his  fortune. 


COMJ^DIE   HUMAINE.  65 

His  wife,  a  cruel  aunt  to  Flore. 

Lastly,  the  brother  and  brother-in-law  of  the  guardians  of 
that  girl,  the  real  father  of  Flore,  who  died,  old  and  silly, 
at  the  Bourges  almshouse  in  1779  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, J"]. 

Brazier,  Flore.     See  Bridau,  Madame  Philippe. 

Breautey,  Comtesse  de,  an  old  woman  who,  at  Provins, 
1827-28,  in  the  high  town  held  the  only  aristocratic  salon  in 
the  locality  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Brebian,  Alexandre  de,  a  member  of  the  aristocracy  of 
Angouleme  in  1821.  He  was  a  frequenter  of  the  Bargetons' 
salon.  An  artist,  like  his  friend  Bartas,  he  had  the  same  as 
he — the  mania  of  drawing  in  and  spoiling  every  album  in  the 
department  with  his  ridiculous  productions.  He  was  generally 
supposed  to  be  Mme.  de  Brebian's,  his  wife,  lover  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, ^]. 

Brebian,  Charlotte  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  was 
currently  called  Lolotte  [Lost  Illusions,  _^]. 

Breintmayer,  a  banking  firm  in  Strasbourg,  commissioned, 
about  1803,  by  Michu  to  remit  funds  to  the  de  Simeuses, 
young  officers  in  Conde's  army  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Brezacs,  The,  Auvergnats,  breeders  of  trouble  and  the 
demolishers  of  castles  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  Em- 
pire, and  the  Restoration.  They  had  identical  interests  with 
Pierre  Graslin,  Jean-Baptiste  Sauviat,  and  Martin  Falleix 
[The  Country  Parson,  F — Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Bricheteau,  Jacques,  musician ;  organist  at  St.  Louis 
Church,  Paris,  under  Louis-Philippe,  at  the  same  time  being 
an  employe  in  the  health  department.  Nephew  of  Sister 
Marie-des-Agnes,  superior  of  the  Ursulines  at  Arcis-sur-Aube ; 
he  was  probably  a  native  of  that  town.  During  the  childhood 
of  Dorlange  he  was  his  secret  protector  and  had  charge  of  his 
education  and  life  ;  he  had  known  the  mother  of  the  sculptor 
and  had  a  platonic  love  for  her.  By  his  entreaties  the  Mar- 
quis de  Sallehauve  legally  recognized  Dorlange.  Bricheteau 
5 


66  COMPENDIUM 

lived  in  turns  on  the  Quai  de  Bethune  and  No.  5  Rue  Castex 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>J>]. 

Bridau,  father  of  Philippe  and  Joseph  Bridau,  one  of  Ro- 
land's secretaries  when  minister  of  the  Interior  in  1792,  and 
the  right  arm  of  all  those  who  succeeded  him  in  the  portfolio. 
He  was  fanatically  attached  to  Napoleon,  who  fully  appreciated 
his  services ;  he  was  appointed  chief  of  a  division  by  him  in 
1804,  and  died,  1808,  at  the  time  he  had  been  promoted 
director-general  and  councilor  of  State,  with  the  title  of  count. 
He  knew  Agathe  Rouget,  who  became  his  wife,  when  she 
lived  at  the  home  of  Descoings  the  grocer,  and  whom  he  tried 
to  save  from  the  scaffold  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  eJ]. 

Bridau,  Agathe  Rouget,  Lady,  wife  of  the  preceding; 
born  1773;  ^hs  l^g^l  daughter  of  Dr.  Rouget  of  Issoudun,  but 
perhaps  the  natural  daughter  of  substitute  Lousteau ;  the 
doctor,  who  did  not  love  her,  sent  her  at  an  early  age  to 
Paris,  where  she  was  brought  up  by  her  uncle  Descoings,  the 
grocer.  She  died  at  the  close  of  the  year  1828.  Of  her  two 
sons,  Philippe  and  Joseph,  Mme.  Bridau  always  preferred  the 
eldest,  who  caused  her  all  her  griefs  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, e/], 

Bridau,  Philippe,  eldest  son  of  Bridau  and  Agathe  Rouget; 
born  in  1796.  Entered  Saint-Cyr  school  in  1813,  leaving  there 
six  months  later  as  sub-lieutenant  of  cavalry.  He  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant  following  an  affair  in  the  vanguard  during 
the  campaign  in  France,  then  captain  after  the  battle  of  La 
Fere-Champenoise,  where  Napoleon  pressed  him  as  an  officer 
of  artillery;  he  was  decorated  at  Montereau.  A  witness  of 
the  farewells  at  Fontainebleau,  he  returned  to  his  mother's 
home  in  July,  1814,  his  age  at  the  most  being  but  nineteen, 
and  unwilling  to  serve  under  the  Bourbons.  In  March, 
1815,  Philippe  Bridau  rejoined  the  Emperor  at  Lyons  and 
accompanied  him  to  the  Tuileries ;  he  was  promoted  to  be 
chief  of  a  squad  of  dragoons  of  the  Guard  and  made  an  officer 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor  ^t  Waterloo.     Reduced  to  half-pay 


COMiDIE  HUMAINE.  6T 

under  the  Restoration,  he  yet  preserved  the  grade  and  cross 
of  an  officer.  He  joined  General  Lallemand  in  Texas  and 
returned  from  America  in  October,  1819,  deeply  perverted  in 
morals.  In  1820-21  he  was  the  manager  of  a  newspaper  in 
Paris ;  he  spent  all  his  time  in  debauchery,  and,  as  the  lover 
of  Mariette  Godeschal,  attended  all  the  parties  at  TuUia's, 
Florentine's,  Florine's,  Coralie's,  Matifat's,  and  Camusot's. 
Not  content  with  being  continually  supplied  with  money  by 
his  brother  Joseph,  he  stole  the  cash  confided  to  him  and 
despoiled  Mme.  Descoings  of  her  last  savings,  which  caused 
her  death  from  grief  and  vexation.  He  was  compromised  in 
a  military  conspiracy  and  sent  to  Issoudun,  in  1822,  under 
police  surveillance.  There  he  threw  trouble  into  the  "  bache- 
lor's establishment  "  of  his  uncle  Jean-Jacques  Rouget  j  killed 
in  a  duel  Maxence  Gilet,  the  lover  of  Flore  Brazier,  who  was 
afterward  married  to  his  uncle,  and  who  married  Philippe 
after  she  became  a  widow,  in  1824.  On  the  accession  of 
Charles  X.  he  reentered  the  army  as  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
Due  de  Maufrigneuse's  regiment,  passing  in  1827,  in  this 
grade,  to  a  regiment  of  cavalry  in  the  Royal  Guard,  and  was 
made  Comte  de  Brambourg,  the  name  of  an  estate  which  he 
had  bought ;  he  was  further  promoted  a  commander  in  the 
Legion  of  Honor  and  also  to  the  order  of  St.  Louis.  After 
bringing  about  the  death  of  his  wife,  Flore  Brazier,  he  sought 
to  wed  Amelie  de  Soulanges,  belonging  to  a  great  family ;  but 
his  scheme  was  stopped  short  by  Bixiou.  The  Revolution  of 
1830  lost  to  Philippe  Bridau  a  portion  of  the  fortune  which 
came  from  his  uncle  by  his  marriage.  He  again  entered  the 
service  under  the  government  of  July,  was  appointed  colonel, 
and  was  killed,  in  1839,  in  an  engagement  with  Arabs  in 
Africa  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7— The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, T^. 

Bridau,  Joseph,  painter,  youngest  brother  of  Philippe 
Bridau,  born  in  1799.  A  pupil  of  Gros,  he  exhibited  for  the 
first  time  at  the  salon  of  1823.     Powerfully  supported  by  the 


68  COMPENDIUM 

members  of  the  Cenacle  of  the  Rue  des  Quatre-Vents,  to 
which  he  belonged ;  by  his  master,  by  Gerard,  and  by  Made- 
moiselle des  Touches,  he  was  an  incessant  worker  and  an 
artist  of  genius;  he  was  decorated  in  1827,  and  about  1839, 
by  the  favor  of  the  Comte  de  Serizy,  at  whose  home  he  had 
at  one  time  worked,  he  married  the  only  daughter  of  an  old 
farmer  who  had  become  more  than  a  millionaire.  At  the 
death  of  his  brother  Philippe,  he  inherited  his  mansion  on  the 
Rue  de  Berlin,  the  estate  of  Brambourg,  and  the  title  of  count 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J^ — A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  iff— A  Start  in  Life,  s\.  Joseph  Bridau  made  the 
vignettes  for  Canalis'  works  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK^].  He 
was  intimate  with  Hippolyte  Schinner,  whom  he  had  known 
in  Gros'  atelier  [The  Purse,  p\.  Soon  after  1830  he  was  at 
the  home  of  Mile,  des  Touches  at  an  assembly  when  Henri  de 
Marsay  told  the  story  of  his  first  love,  and  took  part  in  the 
conversation  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  T\.  In  1832  he 
entered  in  a  rush  into  the  study  of  Pierre  Grassou  and  bor- 
rowed from  him  five  hundred  francs,  *'  The  duns  are  at  my 
heels,  as  they  say  in  literature" ;  then  he  let  Grassou  know  that 
he  was  a  poor  painter.  At  this  time  Joseph  Bridau  was  painting 
the  dining-room  of  d'Arthez's  castle  [Pierre  Grassou,  !•].  A 
friend  of  Marie  Gaston,  he  was  one  of  the  two  witnesses  at 
his  marriage  to  Louise  de  Chaulieu,  the  widow  of  Macumer, 
1833  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  He  also  assisted  at  Stein- 
bock's  wedding  when  he  was  married  to  Hortense  Hulot,  and, 
in  1838,  at  Stidmann's  instigation,  paid,  with  Leon  de  Lora, 
four  thousand  francs  to  have  him  released  when  imprisoned 
for  debt.  He  painted  the  portrait  of  Josepha  Mirah  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\  In  1839,  at  the  house  of  Mme.  de  Montcornet, 
Joseph  Bridau  praised  the  talent  and  character  of  the  sculptor 
Dorlange  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)X>]. 

Bridau,  Flore  Brazier,  Lady  Philippe,  born  in  1787, 
at  Vatan,  Indre,  known  by  the  name  of  '*La  Rabouilleuse," 
because  her  uncle  gave  her  this  work  as  her  ordinary  employ- 


comAdie  HUMAINE,  69 

ment  in  her  childhood;  to  thrash,  or  *' rabouiller  " — stir  up 
— the  streams  that  he  might  find  the  crayfish.  She  was  re- 
marked on  account  of  her  great  beauty  by  Doctor  Rouget  of 
Issoudon,  and  received  by  him  in  1799  ;  Jean- Jacques  Rouget, 
the  son  of  the  doctor,  had  a  mind  for  her,  but  he  never  got 
anything  except  by  the  power  of  money;  in  1816  she  had  a 
fancy  for  Maxence  Gilet,  whom  she  introduced  into  the  house 
of  her  old  boy,  where  he  stayed  as  long  as  he  lived.  The 
arrival  of  Philippe  Bridau  at  Issoudun  changed  everything; 
Gilet  was  killed  in  a  duel,  and  Rouget  married  la  Rabouilleuse 
in  1823.  She  soon  became  a  widow,  when  she  married  the 
soldier,  and  died  at  Paris  in  1828,  deserted  by  her  husband, 
in  the  deepest  poverty,  the  prey  of  numerous  secret  diseases, 
produced  by  the  disgraceful  life  into  which  Philippe  Bridau 
had  thrown  her  by  design ;  she  lived  then  on  the  Rue  du 
Houssay^  at  the  corner  of  the  Chantereine,f  on  the  fifth  floor, 
which  she  left  for  the  house  Dubois  of  the  faubourg  St.  Denis 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Bridau,  Madame  Joseph,  only  daughter  of  Leger,  an  old 
farmer,  more  than  a  millionaire,  at  Beaumont-sur-Oise ;  she 
married  the  painter  about  1839  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, «/]. 

Brigaut,  Les,  Major,  of  Pen-Hoel,  Vendee;  an  old 
major  in  the  Catholic  army,  active  against  the  French  Re- 
public. A  man  of  iron,  of  absolutely  disinterested  devotion  ; 
he  had  served  under  Charette,  Mercier,  Baron  du  Guenic, 
and  the  Marquis  de  Montauran.  He  died  in  1819,  six  months 
after  Mme.  Lorrain,  the  widow  of  a  major  in  the  Imperial 
army,  and  whom  he  was  said  to  have  consoled  after  she  lost 
her  husband.  Major  Brigaut  had  been  wounded  twenty-seven 
times  [Pierrette,  % — The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Brigaut,  Jacques,  son  of  Major  Brigaut,  born  about  181 1. 
A   companion   of  Pierrette  Lorrain  in   her  childhood,  and 

*  Really  a  part  of  the  Rue  Taitbout. 

f  Renamed  the  Rue  de  la  Victoire  in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe. 


70  COMPENDIUM 

whom  he  innocently  loved,  something  after  the  manner  that 
Paul  loved  Virginie,  and  who  loved  him  in  the  same  way. 
When  Pierrette  was  sent  to  the  home  of  the  Rogrons,  her 
relations  at  Provins,  Jacques  went  to  that  town  where  he 
worked  as  a  carpenter.  He  was  present  at  the  last  moments 
of  the  young  girl,  and  afterward  enlisted  as  a  common  soldier. 
He  became  general  of  a  battalion,  after  many  times  seeking 
death  [Pierrette,  -i]. 

Brigitte,  a  servant  of  Chesnel's  from  1795.  She  was  still 
in  his  employ,  on  the  Rue  du  Bercail,  Alengon,  in  1824,  at 
the  time  of  young  I'Esgrignon's  escapades.  Brigitte  catered 
to  her  master's  gluttony,  the  sole  fault  of  the  goodman  [The 
Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\ 

Brignolet,  a  clerk  in  the  attorney  Bordin's  office,  in  1806 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Brisetout,  Helo'ise,  the  mistress  of  Celestin  Crevel  in 
1838,  and  at  the  time  he  was  appointed  mayor.  She  suc- 
ceeded Josepha  Mirah  in  a  little  mansion  on  the  Rue  Chau- 
chat,*  after  having  lived  on  the  Rue  Notre-Dame-de-Lorette 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\.  In  1844-45  she  was  the  leading  dancer 
in  a  boulevard  theatre ;  she  belonged  in  part  to  Bixiou  and  in 
part  to  Gaudissart,  her  manager.  She  was  an  ''  excessively 
literary"  young  woman,  renowned  in  bohemia,  and  was 
fashionable  and  gracious ;  she  knew  all  the  great  artists 
and  favored  her  relation,  Garangeot,  the  musician  [Cousin 
Pons,  QC\.  Toward  the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  she  had  as 
*'  protector  "  Isidore  Baudoyer,  then  mayor  of  an- arrondisse- 
ment  in  Paris  in  which  the  Place  Royale  was  situated  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\- 

Brisset,  a  celebrated  doctor  in  Paris,  under  Louis-Philippe. 
The  successor  of  Cabanis  and  Bichat,  a  materialist ;  the  head 
of  the  organization  opposed  to  Cameristus,  the  head  of  the 
**  organ  ics."  He  was  called  in  consultation  by  Raphael  de 
Valentin  about  a  very  serious  malady  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 
*  Much  changed  for  the  past  twenty-five  years. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  71 

Brochon,  a  reformed  soldier  who,  in  1822,  looked  after 
the  horses  and  did  rough  work  for  Moreau,  steward  of  Presles, 
the  property  of  Comte  de  Serizy  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Brossard,  Madame  du,  a  widow,  received  by  Mme.  de 
Bargeton,  at  Angouleme,  in  1821.  Was  noble  but  poor;  she 
sought  to  marry  her  daughter,  and  to  this  end,  in  spite  of  her 
prim  dignity  and  sour-sweetness,  made  strong  advances  to  the 
men  [Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Brossard,  Camille  du,  daughter  of  the  foregoing,  born 
in  1794,  tall  and  fat,  passed  for  being  a  great  pianist;  she 
still  remained  unmarried  at  the  age  of  seven-and-twenty  [Lost 
Illusions,  'N\ 

Brossette,  Abbe,  born  about  1790,  cure  of  Blangy,  Bour- 
gogne,  1823,  at  the  time  when  General  de  Montcornet  was 
struggling  with  his  peasantry.  The  abbe  was  at  once  the 
object  of  their  distrust  and  hate.  He  was  the  fourth  son  of  a 
good  bourgeois  family  of  Autun,  a  faithful  priest,  a  persistent 
Royalist,  and  a  man  of  parts  [The  Peasantry,  J?].  In  1840 
he  had  become  a  cure  in  Paris,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain, 
and  was  asked  by  Mme.  de  Grandlieu  to  assist  her  in  breaking 
off  the  relations  existing  between  Calyste  du  Guenic  and 
Mme.  de  Rochefide,  to  restore  him  to  his  wife  [Beatrix,  J^\ 

Brouet,  Joseph,  a  Chouan ;  died  of  wounds  received  in 
the  combat  of  the  Pelerine,  or  at  the  siege  of  Fougeres,  in 
1799  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Brouin,  Jacquette,  wife  of  Pierre  Cambremer.  See  that 
name. 

Brousson,  Doctor,  who  attended  the  banker  Jean-Fred- 
eric Taillefer,  some  time  before  the  death  of  that  financier 
[The  Red  House,  <^]. 

Bruce,  Gabriel,  called  "Big  Jean,"  one  of  the  most  fero- 
cious Chouans  in  Fontaine's  division  ;  he  was  implicated  in 
the  affair  of  the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne  ;  condemned  to  death 
for  treason  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Bruel,  Du,  chief  of  a  division  in  the  ministry  of  the  In- 


/ 


72  COMPENDIUM 

terior,  under  the  Empire.  A  friend  of  Bridau  senior ;  went 
into  retirement  at  the  Restoration  ;  was  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  the  widow  Bridau.  He  went  every  evening  to 
play  cards  at  her  house,  on  the  Rue  Mazarine,  together  with 
his  old  comrades  Claparon  and  Desroches.  These  three  old 
employes  were  called  the  **  Three  Wise  Men  of  Greece  "  by 
Mesdames  Bridau  and  Descoings.  M.  du  Bruel  was  the  de- 
scendant of  a  contractor  ennobled  at  the  end  of  Louis  XIV. 's 
reign  ;  he  died  about  182 1  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Bruel,  Madame  du,  wife  of  the  above,  and  his  survivor. 
She  was  the  mother  of  the  dramatic  author  Jean-Frangois  du 
Bruel,  given  the  name  of  Cursy  on  the  Parisian  posters.  A 
good  but  strict  bourgeois,  Mme.  de  Bruel  received  and  acted 
kindly  to  the  dancer  TuUia,  who  became  her  daughter-in-law 
[A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF^. 

Bruel,  Jean-Francois  du,  son  of  the  foregoing;  born 
about  1797;  by  the  favor  of  the  Due  de  Navarreins  he  was, 
1 81 6,  given  a  place  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  J\  He  was  sub-chief  of  Rabourdin's  office 
in  1824,  at  the  time  when  the  dispute  between  him  and  Bau- 
doyer  occurred  to  become  head  of  the  division  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc].  In  November,  1825,  Jean-Francois  du  Bruel 
attended  a  breakfast  given  to  Desroches'  clerks  at  the  Rocher 
de  Cancale  by  Frederic  Marest  on  his  entrance  into  their 
office ;  he  was  present  at  the  orgy  which  followed  at  Floren- 
tine's [A  Start  in  Life,  s].  M.  du  Bruel  successively  became 
chief  of  the  bureau,  director,  councilor  of  State,  deputy,  peer 
of  France,  commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  received  the 
title  of  count,  and  entered  one  of  the  classes  in  the  Institute ; 
all  these  through  his  wife's  intrigues,  Claudine  Chaffaroux, 
the  former  dancer  Tullia,  whom  he  married  in  1829  [A  Prince 
of  Bohemia,  JPjP — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\.  For  a  long 
time  he  signed  his  vaudevilles  under  the  pseudonym  of  Cursy. 
Nathan,  the  poet,  had  been  compelled  to  associate  himself 
with  him  ;  Jean-Francois  du  Bruel  wrote  spirited  little  pieces, 


I 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  73 

which  always  took  with  the  actors.  MM.  du  Bruel  and 
Nathan  brought  out  Florine  as  an  actress;  they  were  the 
authors  of  *'  I'Alcade  dans  Tembarras,"  an  iftibroglio^  in  three 
acts,  performed  at  the  Panorama-Dramatique,  about  1822, 
where  she  made  her  first  appearance,  and  where  Coralie  also 
played,  beside  Bouife,  under  the  name  of  Vignol  [A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  ilff — A  Daughter  of  Eve,  V~\. 

Bruel,  Claudine  Chaffaroux,  du;  born  at  Nanterre, 
1799.  One  of  the  leading  dancers  at  the  opera,  1817  to  1827  ; 
she  was  the  Due  de  Rhetore's  mistress  for  a  number  of  years 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7],  and,  after  that,  of  Jean- 
Frangois  du  Bruel,  whom  she  persuaded  to  marry  her  in 
1829;  she  had  then  left  the  theatre.  About  1834  she  met 
Charles-Edouard  de  la  Pal  ferine,  falling  foolishly  in  love  with 
him  ;  to  appear  as  a  great  lady  before  him,  she  urged  her  hus- 
band to  aim  at  high  things,  and  she  acquired  the  title  of 
countess.  At  this  time  she  made  herself  accepted  in  bour- 
geois society  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF — A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  ilf — Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v'].  In  1840, 
at  the  request  of  Madame  Colleville,  her  friend,  she  tried  to 
obtain  the  ribbon  for  Thuillier  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 
Mme.  du  Bruel  was  known  on  the  boards  and  in  the  world  of 
gallantry  by  the  name  of  Tullia.  She  was  then  living  on  the 
Rue  Chauchat,  in  a  mansion  in  which  she  was  succeeded  by 
Mesdames  Mirah  and  Brisetout,  when  Claudine,  after  her 
marriage,  went  to  live  on  the  Rue  de  la  Victoire. 

Brunei,  a  laborer  at  Blangy,  Bourgogne,  1823.  He  was 
the  terror  of  the  councilor  of  the  canton ;  he  had  for  chums 
Michel  Vert,  called  Vermichel,  and  old  Fourchon  [The  Peas- 
antry, H']. 

Brunner,  Gedeon,  the  father  of  Frederic  Brunner.     At 

the  time  of  the  Restoration  and  of  Louis-Philippe,  he  kept  the 

great  Hotel  de  Hollande  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main ;  he  was 

one  of  the  first  railroad  projectors ;  he  died  about  1844,  leaving 

*  The  Aench  term  for  a  "  screaming  farce." 

/ 


74  COMPENDIUM 

four  millions.  He  was  a  Calvinist,  and  had  been  twice  mar- 
ried [Cousin  Pons,  05]. 

Brunner,  Madame,  first  wife  of  Gedeon  Brunner,  the 
mother  of  Frederic  Brunner ;  a  relative  of  the  Virlaz',  wealthy- 
Jewish  furriers  at  Leipsic;  a  converted  Jew.  Her  dowry 
formed  the  nucleus  of  her  husband's  fortune.  She  died  young, 
leaving  an  only  son,  aged  twelve  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Brunner,  Madame,  Gedeon  Brunner's  second  wife ;  the 
only  daughter  of  a  German  tavernkeeper.  She  was  sterile  and 
prodigiously  dissipated;  she  made  her  husband's  life  unhappy 
by  vengeful  feelings  against  his  first  wife ;  she  ill-treated  her 
step-son  most  abominably,  especially  when  she  found  herself 
unable  to  prevent  him  becoming  possessed  of  the  Jew's  for- 
tune. She  died  ten  years  after  her  marriage  at  the  home  of 
her  parents,  whither  she  had  been  compelled  to  go  by  Gedeon 
Brunner  [Cousin  Pons,  QC\. 

Brunner,  Frederic,  only  son  of  Gedeon  Brunner,  born 
in  the  first  four  years  of  the  century.  He  dissipated  his 
maternal  inheritance  by  a  life  of  folly,  then  assisted  Wilhelm 
Schwab  to  devour  the  hundred  thousand  francs  which  had 
been  left  him  by  his  parents ;  without  resources  and  abandoned 
by  his  father,  he  went  to  Paris  in  1835,  where,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Graff,  an  innkeeper,  he  secured  a  position  with 
the  Kellers  at  six  hundred  francs  per  annum ;  but  Gedeon 
Brunner  dying,  he  came  into  possession  of  many  millions  of 
francs  and  founded  with  his  friend  Wilhelm  a  banking  house, 
**  Brunner,  Schwab  &  Co.,"  on  the  Rue  Richelieu,  between  the 
Rue  Neuve-des-Petits-Champs  and  Rue  Villedo,  in  a  splendid 
mansion  belonging  to  Wolfgang  Graff,  the  tailor.  Frederic 
Brunner  had  been  presented  by  Sylvain  Pons  to  the  Camusots 
de  Marville;  he  would  have  married  their  daughter,  if  she 
had  not  been  an  only  child.  The  rupture  of  this  marriage 
strained  the  relations  existing  between  Pons  and  the  family 
de  Marville,  and  which  was  followed  by  the  death  of  the 
musician  [Cousin  Pons,  xj. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  75 

Bruno,  Corentin's  valet  at  Passy,*  Rue  de  Vignes,  in 
1830  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  li^].  He  was  still  in  Corentin's 
service,  who  was  reincarnated  under  the  name  M.  du  Por- 
tail.  Rue  Honore-Chevalier,  Paris,  about  1840  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\-     This  name  is  sometimes  spelt  Bruneau. 

Brutus,  in  1799,  at  Alengon,  on  the  Grande-Rue,  kept 
the  Trois-Maures  Hotel,  where  Alphonse  de  Montauran  met 
Mile,  de  Verneuil  for  the  first  time  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Bryond.  See  Tours-Minieres,  Bernard-Polydor  Bryond, 
Baron  des. 

Bulot,  probably  a  drummer ;  Gaudissart  spoke  of  him  as 
*'a  great  booby"  [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o]. 

Buneaud,  Madame,  kept  a  middle-class  boarding-house 
on  the  Sainte-Genevieve  hill ;  a  rival  establishment  to  that  of 
Mme.  Vauquer,  in  1819  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Butifer,  a  great  hunter,  poacher,  and  smuggler;  one  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  village  in  the  vicinity  of  Grenoble, 
where  Doctor- Benassis  established  himself  under  the  Restora- 
tion. On  rhe  arrival  of  the  physician  in  the  country,  Butifer 
shot  at  him  with  a  gun  at  the  corner  of  a  forest,  but  later 
became  entirely  devoted  to  him.  He  was  commissioned  by 
Genestas  to  undertake  the  physical  care  of  the  son  adopted 
by  that  officer.  Possibly  Butifer  enlisted  in  Genestas'  regi- 
ment after  the  death  of  Doctor  Benassis  [The  Country 
Doctor,  O]. 

Butscha,  Jean,  Maitre  Latournelle's,  a  notary  in  Havre, 
head  clerk,  in  1829;  born  about  1804,  the  natural  son  of  a 
Swedish  sailor  and  a  Demoiselle  Jacmin,  of  Honfleur;  a 
hunchback;  a  type  of  intelligence  and  devotion,  all  placed 
at  Modeste  Mignon's  disposal,  whom  he  loved  without  hope. 
He  contributed  by  his  adroit  scheming  to  have  her  married  to 
Ernest  de  la  Briere ;  Butscha  judged  that  this  union  would 
render  the  young  girl  happy  [Modeste  Mignon,  K-l- 

*  At  the  present  time  P  .ssy  forms  a  portion  of  the  sixteenth  arrondisse- 
ment  of  Paris.  / 


76  COMPENDIUM 


CabiroUC;  conductor  of  the  carriages  belonging  to  Min- 
oret-Levrault,  the  proprietor  of  post-horses  at  Nemours.  He 
was  a  widower,  and,  doubtless,  had  a  son.  About  1837,  when  a 
sexagenarian,  he  married  Antoinette  Patris,  called  la  Bou- 
gival,  then  fifty  years  old,  but  who  possessed  an  income  of 
eleven  thousand  francs  [Ursule  Mirouct,  _H"]. 

CabiroUe,  son  of  the  preceding;  he  was  Dr.  Minoret's 
coachman,  at  Nemours ;  later  coachman  for  Savin ien  de 
Portenduere,  after  the  marriage  of  the  vicomte  to  Ursule 
Mirouet  [Ursule  Mirouet,  _H"]. 

Cabirolle,  Madame,  wife  of  Cabriolle  senior;  ;z^<f  Antoi- 
nette Patris  in  1786,  of  a  poor  family  in  la  Bresse.  The 
widow  of  a  workingman  named  Pierre  and  called  Bougival, 
she  was  generally  known  by  that  name.  After  having  been 
Ursule  Mirouet's  nurse,  she  became  Dr.  Minoret's  servant, 
and,  about  1837,  married  Cabirolle  [Ursule  Mirouet,  J2"]. 

Cabirolle,  Madame,  mother  of  Florentine,  the  dancer. 
An  old  janitor  on  the  Rue  Pastourelle,  she  lived,  in  1820, 
with  her  daughter.  Rue  de  Cressol,  in  a  modest  place  fur- 
nished by  Cardot,  an  old  silk  dealer,  used  by  him  since  181 7. 
According  to  Girondeau,  she  was  an  intelligent  woman  [A 
Start  in  Life,  s — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e/]. 

Cabirolle,  Agathe-Florentine,  called  Florentine;  born 
in  1804.  She  was  met,  in  181 7,  by  Cardot  as  she  was  leaving 
Coulon's  class;  the  old  silk  dealer  established  her  and  her 
mother  in  a  suite  of  rooms  comparatively  unpretending,  Rue 
de  Cressol.  After  figuring  on  the  boards  of  the  Gaite  as  a 
dancer,  in  1820  she  made  her  first  step  onward  in  the  melo- 
drama "  les  Ruines  de  Babylone."*  She  succeeded  Mariette 
2i% premiere  danseuse  2X  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  theatre;  then, 

*  A  play  by  Ren6-Charles  Guilbert  de  Pixer6court,  which  had  its  first 
representation  in  Paris,  18 10. 


COMJ^DIE  HUMAINE.  77 

in  1823,  she  made  her  debut  at  the  opera  in  a  dancing  trio 
with  Mariette  and  Tullia.  At  the  time  when  Cardot  was  her 
protector,  she  had  as  a  lover  old  Captain  Girondeau,  and  was 
intimate  with  Philippe  Bridau,  to  whom,  when  he  was  in 
need,  she  would  give  money.  In  1825  Florentine  occupied 
for  about  three  years  Coralie's  old  rooms ;  it  was  there  that 
Oscar  Husson  lost  the  money  at  play  that  had  been  confided 
to  his  care  by  his  patron,  Desroches  the  attorney,  and  was  there 
discovered  by  his  uncle  Cardot  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, eJ — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JUT — A  Start 
in  Life,  s\. 

Cabot,  Armand-Hippolyte,  a  native  of  Toulon,  who 
founded  a  place  in  the  Bourse  at  Paris,  1800,  as  a  hair- 
dressing  parlor.  On  the  advice  of  his  customer,  the  poet 
Parny,  he  assumed  the  name  of  Marius,  which  stuck  to  the 
house.  In  1845,  Cabot,  having  an  income  of  twenty-four 
thousand  francs,  lived  at  Libourne,  and  a  fifth  Marius,  named 
Mougin,  was  the  proprietor  of  the  establishment  created  by 
him  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  'u\. 

Cabot,  Marie-Anne,  called  Lajeunesse,  an  old  huntsman 
of  the  Marquis  Carol  d'Esgrignon;  implicated  in  the  Chauf- 
feurs of  Mortagne  affair  and  executed  in  1809  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Cachan,  an  attorney  at  Angouleme,  under  the  Restoration. 
Like  Petitclaud,  he  meddled  in  every  sort  of  affair,  both  of 
those  he  acted  in  and  other  people's.  In  1830  Cachan  be- 
came mayor  of  Marsac ;  was  a  friend  of  the  Sechards  [Lost 
Illusions,  JV^-The  Harlot's  Progress,  T,  Z\ 

Cadenet,  in  1840,  a  wine  merchant  on  the  first  floor  of  a 
lodging-house  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  des  Postes  and  Rue 
des  Poules,*  where  Cerizet  then  lived.  Cadenet  was  the 
owner  of  the  house,  and  was  mixed  up  in  the  operations  of 
the  ''  banker  of  the  poor,'    Cerizet  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

*  The  Rue  des  Postes  is  xi  ally  the  Rue  Lhomond,  and  the  Rue  des 
Poules  the  Rue  Laromiguidre. 


78  COMPENDIUM 

Cadignan,  Prince  de,  a  great  lord  of  the  old  regime, 
father  of  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  father-in-law  of  the  Due 
de  Navarreins.  Ruined  by  the  Revolution,  he  recovered  his 
estates  and  pensions  on  the  return  of  the  Bourbons ;  but  he 
was  exceedingly  extravagant,  and  mismanaged  everything  and 
ruined  his  wife.  He  died  at  a  great  age  some  time  previous 
to  the  Revolution  of  July  [The  Seerets  of  the  Princess  of 
Cadignan,  ;$;].  At  the  end  of  1829,  being  then  master  of  the 
hounds  to  Charles  X. ,  Prince  de  Cadignan  assisted  near  Havre 
in  a  grand  hunt,  where  was  found,  on  account  of  the  society 
being  of  high  aristocracy,  the  Due  d'Herouville,  the  organizer 
of  the  fete,  Canalis,  and  Ernest  de  la  Briere,  all  three  of 
whom  aspired  to  the  hand  of  Modeste  Mignon,  and  with 
equal  pretensions  [Modeste  Mignon,  JS.\ 

Cadignan,  Prince  and  Princess  de,  son  and  daughter- 
in-law  of  the  foregoing.  See  Maufrigneuse,  Due  and  Duch- 
esse  de. 

Cadine,  Jenny,  an  actress  at  the  Gymnase,  under  Charles 
X.  and  Louis-Philippe  ;  the  most  frolicsome  of  women,  the 
only  rival  of  Dejazet.  Born  in  1814,  discovered,  raised,  and 
*^  protected,"  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  by  Baron  Hulot ;  an 
intimate  friend  of  Josepha  Mirah  [Cousin  Betty,  w\.  Be- 
tween 1835  and  1840,  kept  by  Couture,  she  lived,  on  the 
Rue  Blanche,  in  a  delightful  first-floor  with  a  garden,  where 
she  was  the  successor  of  Fabien  du  Ronceret  and  Mme. 
Schontz  [Beatrix,  JP].  In  1845  she  was  Massol's  mistress 
and  lived  on  the  Rue  de  la  Victoire  ;*  at  this  period  she 
seemed  to  have  ruined  Palafox  Gazonal  in  a  few  days;  he 
had  been  led  to  her  house  by  Bixiou  and  Leon  de  Lora  [The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  i^].  About  the  same  time  she  was 
the  victim  of  thieves,  who  stole  her  jewels,  which  after  the 
arrest  of  the  robbers  were  returned  to  her  by  Saint-Estdve 
(Vautrin),  then  chief  of  the  detective  police  [The  Deputy  for 

Arcis,  Tyiy\. 

*  Which  terminates  at  the  Rue  de  la  Chauss6e-d'Antins. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  79 

Cadot,  Mademoiselle,  an  old  servant-mistress  of  Judge 
Blondet's,  Alengon,  under  the  Restoration.  She  coddled  her 
master,  and,  like  him,  preferred  the  eldest  of  the  two  sons  of 
the  magistrate  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  acC\. 

Calvi,  The:odore,  called  Madeleine,  born  in  1803.  A 
Corsican  condemned  to  the  hulks  for  perpetrating  eleven 
murders,  at  eighteen  years  of  age;  a  ''chum"  in  chains  to 
Vautrin,  from  1819  to  1820  ;  he  made  his  escape  with  him. 
In  May,  1830,  he  assai^sinated  the  widow  Pigeau,  at  Nanterre; 
he  was  arrested  and  this  time  sentenced  to  death ;  the  in- 
trigues of  Vautrin,  who  had  an  unnatural  affection  {sic)  for 
him,  saved  his  life  and  his  penalty  was  commuted  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  z\.  In  1839  Calvi  was  secretary  to  the  said 
Vautrin,  who  was  again  incarnated  as  a  Swedish  lord  under 
the  name  of  Halphertius  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JEJE^. 

Cambon,  lumber  dealer,  an  assistant  of  Mayor  Benassis 
in  1829,  in  a  commune  in  the  vicinity  of  Grenoble,  and  one 
of  his  devoted  auxiliaries  in  the  renovating  work  and  enter- 
prises of  that  physician  [The  Country  Doctor,  C]- 

Cambremer,  Pierre,  a  fisherman  at  Croisic,  Loire-In- 
ferieure,  who,  for  the  honor  of  his  compromised  name,  threw 
his  only  son  into  the  sea,  and  then,  when  old  and  a  widower, 
lived  all  alone  on  a  promontory,  in  the  time  of  Louis-Philippe, 
in  expiation  of  his  crime  of  paternal  justice  [A  Seaside  Trag- 
edy, e — Beatrix,  JP]. 

Cambremer,  Joseph,  youngest  brother  of  Pierre  Cam- 
bremer, father  of  Pierrette,  called  Perotte  [A  Seaside  Trag- 
edy, e]. 

Cambremer,  Jacques,  only  son  of  Pierre  Cambremer  and 
Jacquette  Brouin.  Spoiled  by  his  parents,  more  particularly 
by  his  mother,  he  became  a  rascal  of  the  worst  kind.  Jacques 
Cambremer  avoided  justice  because  his  father  precipitated 
him  into  the  sea  after  strangling  him  [A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e]. 

Cambremer,  Madame,  born  Jacquette  Brouin,  wife  of 
Pierre  Cambremer  and  mother  of  Jacques,     She  was  a  native 


80  COMPENDIUM 

of  Guerande;  was  educated;  could  write  like  *'a  clerk"; 
she  taught  her  son  to  read,  and  this  was  his  ruin.  She  was 
mostly  called  the  beautiful  Brouin.  She  died  some  days  after 
Jacques  [A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e]. 

Cambremer,  Pierrette,  called  Perotte,  the  daughter  of 
Joseph  Cambremer  ;  niece  of  Pierre  and  his  goddaughter. 
Every  morning  the  sweet  and  pretty  creature  carried  her  uncle 
the  bread  and  water  which  he  exclusively  used  for  food  [A 
Seaside  Tragedy,  e\. 

Cameristus,  a  celebrated  Paris  physician,  under  Louis- 
Philippe  ;  the  Ballanche  of  medicine,  one  of  the  defenders  of 
Van  Helmont's  abstract  doctrines;  head  of  the  "vitalists," 
opposed  to  Brisset,  the  chief  of  the  opposition.  He  was,  along 
with  that  Brisset,  called  in  consultation  about  the  serious 
malady  of  Raphael  de  Valentin  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Camps,  Octave  de,  the  lover  and  afterward  the  husband 
of  Madame  Firmiani.  She  had  him  make  restitution  of  the 
whole  of  the  fortune  to  the  Bourgneuf  family,  who  had  been 
ruined  in  a  civil  trial  brought  by  Octave's  father,  and  who  re- 
duced it  to  a  living  lesson  in  mathematics.  He  had  not  seen 
twenty-two  years  when  he  knew  Mme.  Firmiani ;  he  married 
her  at  Gretna  Green.  The  marriage  in  Paris  took  place  in 
1824  or  1825.  Octave  de  Camps  lived  before  his  marriage 
on  the  Rue  de  I'Observance*  [Madame  Firmiani,  /i].  Octave 
de  Camps  later  reappears  as  an  ironmaster  under  Louis- 
Philippe;  so  at  this  time  he  rarely  resides  in  Paris  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X)Z>]. 

Camps,  Madame  Octave  de,  nee  Cadignan;  niece  of 
the  old  Prince  de  Cadignan,  cousin  of  the  Due  de  Maufrig- 
neuse.  She  married  when  sixteen,  1813,  M.  Firmiani,  re- 
ceiver-general in  the  department  of  Montenotte,  who  died  in 
Greece  about  1822,  and  she  became  Mme.  de  Camps  in  1824 
or  1825  ;  at  that  time  she  lived  on  the  Rue  du  Bac  and  was 
received  at  the  *'  at  homes  "  of  Princesse  de  Blaraont-Chauvry, 
*  Now  the  Rue  Antoine-Dubois. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  81 

the  oracle  of  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain.  She  was  an  accom- 
plished and  excellent  woman ;  she  was  liked  by  her  rivals:  the 
Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse,  her  cousin  ;  Madame  de  Macumer 
(Louise  de  Chaulieu),  and  Marquise  d'Espard  [Madame  Firmi- 
ani,  li\.  She  sought  out  and  protected  Mme.  Xavier  Rabour- 
din  [Les  Employes,  cc\.  At  the  end  of  1824  she  gave  a  ball 
where  Charles  de  Vandenesse  first  met  Mme.  d'Aiglemont, 
and  from  which  time  he  was  her  lover  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  S\  In  1834  Mme.  Octave  de  Camps  tried  to  stop 
the  calumny  about  Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  who  had  been 
compromised  by  the  poet  Nathan,  and  she  wisely  advised  that 
young  woman  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\  Again  she  gave  very 
good  counsel  to  Mme.  de  I'Estorade,  who  feared  to  be  smitten 
by  de  Sallenauve  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _D  J)].  Ex-Madame 
Firmiani  was  frequently  passing  between  Paris  and  M.  de 
Camps'  forges,  and  she  would  have  given  the  latter  the  prefer- 
ence only  that  she  liked  to  talk  with  Mme.  de  I'Estorade,  one 
of  her  intimate  friends  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>J>]. 

Camuset,  one  of  the  names  borrowed  by  Bourignard, 
under  which  he  had  speech  with  Mme.  Etienne  Gruget,  Rue 
des  Enfants-Rouges  [The  Thirteen— Ferragus,  hh\ 

Camusot,  silk  merchant.  Rue  des  Bourdonnais,  Paris, 
under  the  Restoration  ;  born  in  1765,  son-in-law  and  successor 
to  Cardot,  whose  eldest  daughter  he  married,  the  sole 
heiress  of  the  celebrated  Pons',  embroiderers  to  the  Court, 
under  the  Empire.  He  retired  from  business  in  1834  and  be- 
came a  member  of  the  manufacturers'  council,  a  deputy,  peer 
of  France,  and  a  baron.  He  had  four  children.  In  1821- 
22  he  kept  Coralie,  who  fell  in  love  with  Lucien  de  Rubempre. 
After  being  deserted  by  her  for  Lucien,  he  kindly  promised 
the  poet,  after  the  death  of  the  actress,  that  he  would  buy  a  lot 
in  perpetuity  in  Pere-Lachaise,  and  have  engraved  on  her 
tombstone  the  simple  words:  CORALIE,  aged  nineteen 
YEARS,  AUGUST  2  2,  1 829  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  ilfZ"— A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J— Cousin  Pons,  x\ 


82  COMPENDIUM 

Soon  after  he  took  up  with  Fanny  Beaupre,  with  whom 
he  lived  a  long  time  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 
He  and  his  wife  attended  Cesar  Birotteau's  famous  ball,  De- 
cember, 1818;  he  was  appointed  the  commissary  judge  in  the 
matter  of  the  perfumer's  failure,  replacing  Gobenheim-Keller, 
who  had  first  been  appointed  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  He  was 
a  friend  of  the  Guillaumes,  dry  goods  dealers,  Rue  St.  Denis 
[At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t\. 

Camusot  de  Marville,  a  son  by  Camusot's  first  marriage  ; 
born  about  1794.  Under  Louis-Philippe  he  took  the  name  of 
a  Norman  estate  and  meadows — Marville — to  distinguish  him 
from  a  brother  by  the  second  marriage ;  in  1824  he  was  a 
judge  at  Alen^on ;  he  assisted  in  declaring  Victurnien 
d'Esgrignon  not  guilty,  who  had  committed  a  crime  [Cousin 
Pons,  X — The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\.  In  1828,  a 
judge  in  Paris,  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  replace  Popinot 
in  the  commission  charged  to  pronounce  on  the  state  of  mind 
of  d'Espard,  an  interdiction  against  whom  had  been  applied  for 
by  his  wife  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c\.  In  May,  1830, 
as  judge  of  instruction,  he  drew  up  a  report  which  discharged 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who  was  accused  of  assassinating  Esther 
Gobseck ;  the  suicide  of  the  poet  rendered  this  useless ; 
this  death  overthrew  all  the  ambitious  projects  of  the  magis- 
trate [The  Harlot's  Progress,  ^].  Camusot  de  Marville 
had  been  president  of  the  court  at  Mantes;  in  1844  he  was 
president  of  the  Royal  Court  at  Paris  and  commander  in  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  At  that  time  he  lived  in  a  house  on  the 
Rue  de  Hanovre,  bought  by  him  in  1834,  and  where  he  received 
his  Cousin  Pons,  the  musician.  President  de  Marville  was 
elected  deputy  in  1846  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Camusot  de  Marville,  Madame;  born  in  1798 — Marie- 
Cecile-Amelie ;  daughter  of  a  doorkeeper  of  Louis  XVIII. 's 
cabinet;  wife  of  the  preceding.  In  1814  she  frequented  the 
atelier  of  the  painter  Servin,  who  had  a  class  for  young 
women :  this  was  divided  into  two  clans :  Mile.  Thirion  led 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  83 

that  of  the  nobility,  although  she  was  of  plebeian  origin,  and 
persecuted  Ginevra  di  Piombo,  who  was  a  Bonapartist  [The 
Vendetta,  t].  In  1818  she,  with  her  father  and  mother,  v/as 
invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau ;  it  was  a 
question  at  this  time  whether  she  would  marry  Camusot  de 
Marville  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  The  wedding  took  place  in 
1819,  and  at  once  the  impetuous  young  woman  so  domineered 
over  him  that  she  made  him  ambitious  against  his  will ;  she  it 
was  that  brought  about  the  release  of  young  d'Esgrignon  in 
1824;  the  suicide  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre  in  1830;  by  her 
means  the  Marquise  d'Espard  failed  in  her  commission  in 
lunacy.  Mme.  de  Marville  had  no  influence  with  her  father- 
in-law,  old  Camusot.  She  was  the  cause  of  the  death  of  Syl- 
vain  Pons,  by  her  unkind  actions,  of  whom,  with  her  husband, 
she  became  the  successor  to  his  artistic  collection  [The  Col- 
lection of  Antiquities,  aci — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y — 
Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Camusot,  Charles,  son  of  the  preceding ;  he  died  at  an 
early  age,  at  the  time  when  his  parents  possessed  neither  land 
nor  the  title  de  Marville,  and  when  they  were  in  a  position 
more  suitable  to  such  folk  [Cousin  Pons,  05]. 

Camusot  de  Marville,  Cecile.  See  Popinot,  Vicom- 
tesse. 

Canalis,  Constant-Cyr-Melchior,  Baron  de,  poet — 
head  of  the  angelic  school — deputy,  minister,  peer  of  France, 
member  of  the  Academy,  commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor; 
born  at  Canalis,  Correze,  in  1800.  About  182 1  he  was  Mme. 
de  Chaulieu's  lover,  whom  he  constantly  used  to  his  advance- 
ment, and  who  always  assisted  him.  Shortly  after  this  time 
he  is  found  at  the  opera  in  Mme.  d'Espard's  box,  who  intro- 
duces him  to  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  From  1824  he  was  the 
fashionable  poet  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v — A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  31\  In  1829  he  lived  at  29  Rue 
Paradis-Poissoniere,*  and  was  master  of  requests  and  coun- 
*  To-day,  plain  Rue  Paradis. 


84  COMPENDIUM 

cilor  of  State ;  this  was  the  time  when  he  was  visiting  Modeste 
Mignon  and  when  he  hoped  to  marry  that  opulent  heiress 
[Modeste  Mignon,  JT].  Soon  after  1830,  already  a  great 
man,  he  attended  a  soiree  at  Mile,  des  Touches'  home  when 
de  Marsay  told  the  story  of  his  first  love;  Canalis  took  part 
in  the  conversation  and  delivered  a  tirade  on  Napoleon  in  a 
most  emphatic  manner  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A. — Another 
Study  of  Woman,  l\  In  1838  he  married  Moreau's  (de 
rOise)  daughter,  who  had  a  very  large  portion  [A  Start  in 
Life,  8\.  With  Mme.  de  Rochefide,  in  1840,  he  was  at  the 
Varietes  when  Calyste  du  Guenic  again  met  that  dangerous 
woman  after  three  years  [Beatrix,  _P].  In  1845  Leon  de 
Lora  introduced  to  him  Palafox  Gazonal  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vb\.  Canalis  was 
always  favorable  to  Sallenauve,  and,  in  1839,  helped  both  by 
his  voice  and  vote  to  make  valid  the  contested  election  of  his 
friend  as  deputy  for  Arcis  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>JD 
and  ^I^]. 

Canalis,  Baronne  Melchior  de,  wife  of  the  above  and 
daughter  of  M.  and  Mme.  Moreau  (de  I'Oise).  About  the 
middle  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  while  still  "recently  enough 
married,"  she  made  a  journey  to  Seine-et-Oise.  Mme.  de 
Canalis,  with  her  daughter  and  the  academician,  occupied 
the  coupe  of  Pierrotin's  diligence  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Cane,  Marco-Facino,  called  Father  Canet,  a  blind  old 
man,  a  pensioner  in  the  Hospice  des  Quinze-Vingts,  under 
the  Restoration,  a  musician  by  profession.  He  played  the 
clarionet  at  a  workmen's  ball,  Rue  de  Charenton,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  marriage  of  Mme.  Vaillant's  sister.  He  said 
that  he  was  a  Venetian,  Prince  of  Varese,  and  a  descendant 
of  the  celebrated  condottiere  Facino  Cane,  who  in  the  past 
had  conquered  the  Due  de  Milan  ;  he  told  curious  stories  of 
the  youthful  days  of  that  patrician.  He  died,  more  than  an 
octogenarian,  in  1820.  He  was  the  last  of  the  Canes  of  the 
eldest  branch,  and  transmitted  to  Emilio  Merami,  a  relation 


comAdie  HVMAINE,  '     85 

of  his,  the  title  of  Prince  de  Varese  [Facino  Cane,  Jc — Mas- 
similla  Doni,  ff'], 

Canet,  Father.     The  nickname  of  the  preceding. 

Canquoelle,  Father,  a  name  borrowed  by  the  police-spy, 
Peyrade,  under  the  Restoration  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y]. 

Cante-Croix,  Marquis  de,  sub-lieutenant  in  one  of  the 
regiments  which  passed  through  Angouleme  on  their  way  to 
Spain,  from  November,  1807,  to  March,  1808.  A  colonel  at 
Wagram,  July  6,  1809,  not  being  older  than  twenty-six,  a 
cannon-ball  crushed  on  his  heart  the  portrait  of  Mme.  de 
Bargeton,  which  she  had  given  him  [Lost  Illusions,  JV]. 

Cantinet,  an  old  glass  merchant,  beadle  at  St.  Francois* 
Church,  Marais,  Paris,  1845  J  ^^  lived  on  the  Rued' Orleans;* 
idle  and  a  drunkard  [Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Cantinet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  she  rented  the 
chairs  in  St.  Francois*  Church.  Enthroned  in  extremis  as 
sick-nurse  to  Sylvain  Pons  by  Fraisier  and  Poulain,  who  did 
this  to  facilitate  their  interests  and  power  over  him  [Cousin 
Pons,  X\ 

Cantinet  junior.  He  had  been  appointed  sexton  at  St. 
Francois*  Church,  where  his  father  and  mother  were  also 
employed  ;  but  he  preferred  a  theatrical  career ;  he  figured 
at  the  Cirque-01ympique,t  in  1845.  He  caused  his  mother 
sorrow  by  his  dissolute  life,  and  borrowed  freely  from  the 
maternal  purse  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Capraja,  a  noble  Venetian,  a  past-master  among  dilettantiy 
who  lived  only  by  and  for  music  ;  he  was  nicknamed  ^^  il  Fa- 
natico'';  friendly  with  the  Due  and  Duchesse  Cataneo  and 
their  friends  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff'\. 

Carabine,  the  nom  de  plume  of  Seraphine  Sinet.  See  that 
name. 

*  A  part  of  the  real  Rue  Chariot,  running  from  the  Rue  des  Quatre-Fils 
to  the  Rue  de  Poitou. 

f  At  that  time  situated  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple;  it  is  now  the 
Theatre  du  Chatelet  on  the  square  of  the  same  name. 


86        '  COMPENDIUM 

Carbonneau,  a  physician  whom  the  Comte  du  Mortsauf 
talked  of  consulting  in  reference  to  his  wife,  1820,  in  place 
of  Dr.  Origet,  of  whom  he  complained  [The  Lily  of  the  Val- 
ley, i]. 

Carcado,  Madame  de,  founder  of  a  Parisian  benevolent 
work  in  which  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  was  appointed  one  of 
the  alms-gatherers,  in  March,  1843,  ^7  ^^^  entreaties  of  a 
priest,  the  friend  of  Mme.  Piedefer.  This  position  had  the 
important  result  of  allowing  the  reentrance  into  society  of  the 
"muse,"  misled  and  compromised  by  her  relations  with' 
Lousteau  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Cardanet,  Madame  de,  grandmother  of  Mme.  de  Senon- 
ches  [Lost  Illusions,  J^]. 

Cardinal,  Madame,  a  fish  huckster,  Paris ;  daughter  of  a 
Sieur  Toupillier,  a  carrier ;  an  old  widow,  but  strong  and  hale  ; 
the  niece  of  Toupillier,  the  beggar  at  St.  Sulpice,  from  whom, 
with  Cerizet  as  an  accomplice,  she  tried  to  capture  the  hidden 
treasure.  This  woman  had  three  sisters,  four  brothers,  and 
three  uncles,  who  would  have  partaken  equally  with  herself  in 
her  uncle's,  the  beggar,  inheritance.  The  schemes  of  Mme. 
Cardinal  and  Cerizet  were  nipped  in  the  bud  by  M.  du  Por- 
tail  (Corentin)  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Cardinal,  Olympe.     See  Cerizet,  Madame. 

Cardot,  Jean-Jerome-Severin,  born  in  1755.  First  clerk 
in  an  old  silk  house,  the  "  Cocon  d'or,"  Rue  des  Bourdonnais ; 
he  bought  out  this  establishment  in  1793,  at  the  time  of  the 
maximum,  and  made  a  great  fortune  in  ten  years,  thanks  to 
his  wife's  dot  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs,  a  demoiselle 
Husson,  who  bore  four  children :  two  daughters,  the  eldest 
married  to  Camusot,  who  succeeded  his  father-in-law;  the 
second,  Marianne,  married  to  Protez,  of  the  firm  of  Protez  & 
Chiff'reville ;  two  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  became  a  notary, 
and  the  youngest,  Joseph,  who  was  in  partnership  with  Matifat, 
the  druggist.  Cardot  was  the  protector  of  Florentine,  the 
dancer,  whom  he  discovered  and  kept.     In  1822  he  lived  at 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  87 

Bellville,*  in  one  of  the  first  houses  above  Courtille ;  he  was  at 
that  time  a  widower,  sixty  years  of  age.  The  uncle  of  Oscar 
Husson,  he  had  gone  to  some  trouble  over  and  looked  after 
that  blunderer,  but  this  was  all  changed  by  the  old  man  when 
he  found  him  asleep  one  morning  on  one  of  Florentine's 
couches,  after  an  orgie  at  which  he  had  lost  at  play  the  money 
intrusted  to  him  by  his  employer,  Desroches,  the  attorney 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JfZ* 
— A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7].  Cardot  was  on  terms  of 
friendship  with  the  Guillaumes,  dry  goods  dealers,  Rue  St. 
Denis  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f].  He  was  in- 
vited, with  all  his  children,  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar 
Birotteau,  December  17,  1818  [Cesar  Briotteau,  O]. 

Cardot,  the  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing ;  a  notary  in  Paris, 
successor  to  Sorbier;  born  in  1794;  married  to  a  Demoiselle 
Chiffreville,  a  family  celebrated  for  its  chemical  productions. 
By  his  wife  he  had  three  children  ;  the  eldest,  a  son,  who,  in 
1836,  was  his  father's  fourth  clerk  and  became  his  successor, 
but  pined  for  literary  fame  ;  Felicie,  a  daughter,  who  married 
Berthier;  and  another  daughter,  born  in  1824.  Malaga  was 
kept  by  Cardot  the  notary,  in  the  time  of  Louis-Philippe 
[Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — A  Man  of  Business,  I — The 
Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\.  He  was  Pierre  Grassou's 
notary,  who  each  three  months  took  him  his  savings  [Pierre 
Grassou,  ^].  He  was  also  the  Thuilliers'  notary;  he  offered, 
in  their  parlor  of  the  house  on  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique 
d'Enfer,f  in  1840,  the  pretensions  of  Godeschal  to  the  hand 
of  Celeste  Colleville.  After  living  in  the  Place  du  Chatelet,J 
Cardot  became  one  of  the  tenants  of  the  house  bought  by 
the  Thuilliers,  near  the  Madeleine  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\> 
In  1844,  he  was  a  mayor  and  deputy  for  Paris  [Cousin 
Pons,  Qd\. 

*  At  that  time  outside  of  Paris, 
f  Now  the  Rue  Royer-Collard. 
X  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  has  been  much  improved. 


88  COMPENDIUM 

Cardot,  Madame,  7iee  Chiffreville,  wife  of  Cardot  the 
notary ;  very  pious  and  a  wooden  woman,  a  **  true  penitential 
brush."  About  1840  she  lived  in  Paris  with  her  husband  on 
the  Place  du  Chatelet.  At  this  time  she  took  her  daughter, 
F6licie,  to  the  Rue  des  Martyrs,  to  the  rooms  of  Etienne 
Lousteau,  whom  she  had  accepted  as  a  son-in-law;  but  she 
broke  off  the  match  when  she  there  discovered  the  doings  of 
the  journalist  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Cardot,  Felicie,  or  Felicite.     See  Berthier,  Madame. 

Carigliano,  Marechal,  Due  de,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished soldiers  of  the  Empire ;  the  husband  of  a  Demoiselle 
Malin  de  Gondreville,  whom  he  adored,  but  who  deceived 
him ;  he  was  submissive  to  and  feared  her  [At  the  Sign  of  the 
Cat  and  Racket,  f].  In  1819  Marechal  Carigliano  gave  a 
ball  at  which  Eugene  de  Rastignac  was  introduced  by  his 
cousin,  the  Vicomtesse  de  Beauseant,  and  where  he  made  his 
first  entry  into  society  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  He  owned, 
under  the  Restoration,  near  to  I'Elysee  Bourbon,  a  fine  hotel 
which  he  sold  to  M.  de  Lanty  [Sarrasine,  ds^  II.]. 

Carigliano,  Duchesse  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  daughter 
of  Senator  Malin  de  Gondreville.  At  the  close  of  the  Empire, 
when  thirty-six  years  old,  she  was  the  mistress  of  the  young 
Colonel  d'Aiglemont,  and  at  almost  the  same  time  that  of  the 
painter  Sommervieux,  then  recently  married  to  Augustine  Guil- 
laume.  The  duchesse  received  a  visit  from  Mme.  de  Sommer- 
vieux, and  gave  her  advice  on  the  way  in  which  to  reconquer 
her  husband's  love  and  to  keep  him  by  her  coquetry  [At  the 
Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f].  In  1821-22  she  had  a  box  at 
the  opera  near  that  of  Mme.  d'Espard  ;  Sixte  du  Chatelet  went 
there  one  evening  to  salute  her,  taking  with  him  Lucien  de 
Rubempre,  newly  arrived  in  Paris,  and  who  made  such  a 
shabby  appearance  in  the  theatre  while  seated  near  Mme.  de 
Bargeton  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  M.\  This 
was  the  same  Duchesse  de  Carigliano  who  after  great  efforts 
discovered   a   noble   wife   for   General   de   Montcornet,   the 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  89 

Mademoiselle  Troisville  [The  Peasantry,  JK].  A  Napoleonic 
duchess,  Mme.  de  Carigliano  was  none  the  less  devoted  to 
the  Bourbons  and  attached  herself  particularly  to  the  Duchesse 
de  Berry ;  throwing  herself  into  a  state  of  high  piety,  she 
went  nearly  every  year  to  make  a  retreat  in  the  convent  of 
the  Ursulines  at  Arcis-sur-Aube.  In  1839  the  friends  of  Sal- 
lenauve  counted  on  the  help  of  the  duchess  to  elect  him  as 
deputy  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>J>]. 

Carmagnola,  Giambattista,  an  old  gondolier  of  Venice, 
in  1820 ;  entirely  devoted  to  Emilio  Memmi  [Massimilla 
Doni,#]. 

Carnot,  Lazare-Nicolas-Marguerite  ;  born  at  Nolay, 
Cote-d'Or,  in  1753;  died  in  1823.  He  was  war  minister  in 
June,  1800;  he  was  present  with  Talleyrand,  Fouche,  and 
Sieyes  at  a  sociable  assembly  on  the  Rue  du  Bac,  at  the  official 
residence  of  the  ministers  for  foreign  affairs,  and  when  they 
talked  over  the  downfall  of  the  First  Consul  Bonaparte  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  jf\ 

Caroline,  Mademoiselle  ;  under  the  Empire,  the  gov- 
erness of  M.  and  Mme.  de  Vandenesse's  four  children,  of  whom 
the  three  known  are :  Charles,  Felix,  and  Madame  de  Listo- 
mere.     She  was  a  "  terror  "  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Caroline,  Mademoiselle;  the  name  under  which  the 
Duchesse  de  Langeais,  in  1818-19,  went  to  Spain,  as  the 
maid  of  Lady  Julia  Hopwood,  after  her  adventure  with  Gen- 
eral de  Montriveau  [The  Thirteen — The  Duchesse  de  Lan- 
geais, hh\ 

Caroline,  Rue  Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain,*  Paris; 
in  the  years  1827-28  was  chosen  chambermaid  to  the  Mar- 
quise de  Listomere  when  she  received  a  letter  from  Eugene 
de  Rastignac  intended  for  Delphine  de  Nucingen  [A  Study  of 
Woman,  a]. 

Caroline,  a  servant  at  the  Thuilliers,  in  1840  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

*  Simply  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  since  1838. 


90  COMPENDIUM 

Caron,  the  barrister  in  charge  of  Mile.  Gamard's  affairs, 
at  Tours,  1826.  He  was  engaged  against  Abb6  Francois 
Birotteau  [The  Abb6  Birotteau,  i\ 

Carpentier,  an  old  captain  in  the  Imperial  armies,  retired 
to  Issoudun  during  the  Restoration.  He  had  a  situation  in 
the  mayor's  office ;  he  was  allied  by  marriage  with  one  of  the 
most  influential  families  in  the  town — the  Borniche-Hereaus. 
An  intimate  friend  of  the  captain  of  artillery,  Mignonnet, 
who  partook  with  himself  an  aversion  to  Major  Maxence 
Gilet,  he  was,  with  him,  a  second  of  Philippe  Bridau  in  his 
duel  with  the  chief  of  the  Knights  of  Idlesse  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  eT"]. 

Carpi,  Benedetto,  a  jailer  in  the  prison  at  Venice,  in 
which  Facino  Cane  was  confined  from  1760  to  1770.  Bribed 
by  the  prisoner  he  took  his  flight  with  him,  carrying  a  part  of 
the  secret  treasure  of  the  Republic  ;  but  he  soon  after  perished 
while  swimming  in  the  sea  [Facino  Cane,  /?]. 

Carthagenova,  a  superb  basso  in  the  Theatre  Fenice  at 
Venice.  He  sang,  in  1820,  the  part  of  Moses  in  that  opera- 
oratorio,  with  Genovese  and  la  Tinti,  before  the  Due  and 
Duchesse  Cataneo,  Capraja,  Emilio  Memmi,  and  Marco  Ven- 
dramini  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff\ 

Cartier,  a  gardener  in  the  Montparnasse  quarter,  Paris,  in 
the  time  of  Louis-Philippe.  In  1839  he  furnished  M.  Ber- 
nard (Baron  Bourlac)  with  flowers  for  his  daughter  Vanda 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Cartier,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  a  milk,  ^gg,  and 
vegetable  dealer  who  supplied  Mme.  Vauthier,  the  janitor  of 
a  mean  house  on  the  Boulevard  Montparnasse,  and  M.  Ber- 
nard, a  tenant  in  the  place  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Casa-Real,  Due  de,  youngest  brother  of  Mme.  Balthazar 
Claes  ;  allied  to  the  Evangelistas  of  Bordeaux ;  of  a  family 
illustrious  under  the  Spanish  monarchy;  his  sister  had  re- 
nounced the  succession  of  her  father  and  mother,  so  as  to 
secure  him  a  marriage  worthy  a  house  so  noble.     He  died 


COM  Ad  IE  H  (/MAINE.  91 

young,  in  1805,  leaving  to  Mme.  Claes  a  sufficient  fortune 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  D — A  Marriage  Settlement,  aa^. 

Castagnould,  mate  of  the  Mignon,  a  pretty  bark  of  one 
hundred  tons,  of  which  Charles  Mignon  was  the  captain  and 
owner,  and  in  which  he  made  the  long  voyages  which  con- 
siderably increased  his  business  and  fortune.  Castagnould 
was  a  Provencal  and  an  old  servitor  of  the  Mignon  family 
[Modeste  Mignon,  K'\. 

Castanier,  Rudolphe,  an  old  major  of  a  squad  of  dragoons 
under  the  Empire.  Cashier  to  Baron  de  Nucingen;  deco- 
rated with  the  Legion  of  Honor ;  he  kept  Mme.  de  la  Garde 
(Aquilina),  and,  for  her,  in  1821,  forged  the  signature  of  the 
banker  to  a  letter  of  credit  for  a  considerable  amount.  The 
Englishman,  John  Melmoth,  learned  of  this  false  step  and 
changed  his  person  to  that  of  the  old  officer.  Castanier  was 
also  made  all-powerful,  but  was  soon  disgusted,  and  made  an 
exchange  of  it  with  a  financier  named  Claparon.  Castanier 
had  the  Southern  temperament ;  he  enlisted  when  sixteen,  and 
had  followed  the  French  flag  until  nearly  forty  years  old 
[Melmoth  Reconciled,  d']. 

Castanier,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  married  under 
the  first  Empire.  Her  family  was  a  middle-class  one  of 
Nancy ;  she  deceived  Castanier  in  the  figure  of  her  dot  and  in 
her  *' expectations ;  "  Mme.  Castanier  was  plain,  virtuous, 
and  vinegary ;  she  had  lived,  apart  from  her  amiable  husband, 
for  a  number  of  years,  in  1 821,  in  the  vicinity  of  Strasbourg 
[Melmoth  Reconciled,  d'\. 

Casteran,  De,  a  very  ancient  noble  family  of  Normandy, 
allied  to  that  of  William  the  Conqueror's ;  belonging  to  the 
Verneuils,  the  Esgrignons,  and  the  Troisvilles.  The  name  is 
pronounced  *'  Cateran,"  as  if  it  had  an  acute  accent  to  the  <r, 
though  it  had  gone  out  of  use.  A  Demoiselle  Blanche  de 
Casteran  was  the  mother  of  Mile,  de  Verneuil  and  died  Ab- 
bess of  Notre-Dame,  of  Seez  [The  Chouans,  J5].  Mme.  de 
la  Chanterie,  then  a  widow,  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the 


92  COMPENDIUM 

Casterans  in  Normandy,  in  1807  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T^  A  Marquis  and  a  Marquise  de  Casteran,  then 
aged,  were  frequenters  of  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon's  salon, 
Alengon,  in  1822  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa^  The 
Marquise  de  Rochefide,  nee  Beatrix-Maximilienne-Rose  de 
Casteran,  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  a  Marquis  de  Casteran, 
who  wished  to  marry  his  two  daughters  without  giving  them 
a  portion,  in  order  that  he  might  reserve  the  whole  of  his 
fortune  to  the  Comte  de  Casteran,  his  son  [Beatrix,  _P]. 

Cataneo,  Due,  a  noble  Sicilian,  born  in  1773;  Massi- 
milla  Doni's  first  husband.  He  was  physically  ruined  by  the 
abuse  of  every  pleasure  before  his  marriage;  he  had  never 
exercised  any  of  his  conjugal  rights,  and  lived  only  by  and  for 
music.  Very  wealthy,  he  raised  and  educated  Clara  Tinti, 
discovered  by  him  when  she  was  a  simple  servant  at  an  inn ; 
through  his  care  the  young  woman  had  become  the  famous 
prima  donna  of  the  Fenice  theatre  at  Venice  in  1820.  Geno- 
vese,  the  wonderful  tenor,  of  the  same  theatre,  also  belonged 
to  Due  Cataneo,  whom  he  paid  highly  to  sing  with  la  Tinti. 
Due  Cataneo  made  ridiculous  movements  when  he  walked, 
*'  seeming  to  have  made  it  his  business  to  justify  the  Neapolitan 
that  Gerolemo  always  shows  on  the  stage  of  his  puppet  show  " 
[Massimilla  Doni,  ff~\. 

Cataneo,  Duchesse,  nee  Massimilla  Doni,  wife  of  the 
preceding;  afterward  married  to  Emilio  Memmi,  Prince  de 
Varese.     See  Varese,  Princesse  de. 

Catherine,  an  old  woman-servant  employed  by  M.  and 
Mme.  Saillard  in  1824  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Catherine,  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne's  maid  and  her  foster- 
sister  ;  a  pretty  girl  of  nineteen  in  1803.  The  same  as  Go- 
thard,  Catherine  was  in  all  her  mistress*  secrets  and  served 
her  faithfully  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Cavalier,  a  partner  of  Pendant's  in  the  bookselling,  pub- 
lishing, and  commission  business,  Rue  Serpente,  Paris,  1821. 
Cavalier  traveled  for  the  firm,  which  did  business  under  the 


COM&DIE  HLMAINE,  93 

name  of  Fendant  &  Cavalier.  The  two  partners  had  failed 
more  times  than  was  known  to  the  public ;  Lucien  de  Ru- 
bempre  submitted  to  them  the  famous  romance  "The  Archer 
of  Charles  IX.,"  of  which  they  would  have  changed  the 
title  to  one  more  fantastic  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  Jf].  In  1838  a  Cavalier  firm  published  "The  Spirit 
of  Modern  Laws,"  by  Baron  du  Bourlac,  on  shares  with  the 
author  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Cayron,  a  native  of  Languedoc,  a  small  dealer  in  parasols, 
umbrellas,  and  walking-canes,  Rue  St.  Honore,  in  a  house 
adjoining  that  occupied  by  Birotteau  the  perfumer,  in  18 18. 
With  the  consent  of  the  owner,  Molineux,  Cayron  ceded  to 
his  neighbor  two  rooms  over  his  store  ;  he  was  a  bad  hand  at 
business,  and  suddenly  disappeared  after  the  famous  ball  given 
by  Birotteau.  Cayron  admired  Birotteau  and  often  begged 
him  to  cash  his  notes;  he  accompanied  him  to  Molineux's 
house,  Batave  Court,*  Saint-Denis  quarter  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O]. 

Celestin,  Lucien  de  Rubempre's  valet,  in  Paris,  on  the 
Quai  Malaquais,  in  the  closing  years  of  the  reign  of  King 
Charles  X.  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 

Cerizet,  an  orphan  from  the  Foundling  Hospital,  Paris; 
born  1802.  He  was  apprenticed  to  Didots,  the  celebrated 
printers ;  there  he  was  noticed  by  David  Sechard,  who  took 
him  to  Angouldme  and  employed  him  in  his  printery,  where 
Cerizet  performed  the  triple  functions  of  compositor,  stone- 
hand,  and  proof-reader.  He  presently  acted  treacherously  to 
his  master,  and,  by  means  of  keeping  the  Cointet  Brothers, 
David  Sechard's  competitors,  informed  as  to  his  doings,  was 
the  means  of  causing  his  ruin  [Lost  Illusions,  J^].  Following 
this  he  was  an  actor  in  the  provinces;  managed  a  Liberal 
newspaper  under  the  Restoration  ;  a  sub-prefect  at  the  begin- 
ning of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  and  afterward  a  man  of  busi- 
ness. In  the  last  position  he  was  condemned  to  prison  for 
*  Now  the  Rue  Berger. 


94  COMPENDIUM 

two  years  for  swindling.  After  having  been  the  partner  of 
Georges  d'Estourny,  then  of  Claparon,  he  lapsed  into  poverty 
and  became  a  copying-clerk  to  a  justice  of  the  peace,  in  the 
St.  Jacques  quarter  ;  at  this  time  he  engaged  in  a  loan  business, 
lending  money  by  the  *' little  week,"  and  enjoyed  a  certain 
amount  of  comfort  by  his  speculations  with  poor  folk.  Al- 
though absolutely  impotent  through  his  vicious  life,  Cerizet 
married  Olympe  Cardinal  about  1840.  At  that  time  he  was 
mixed  up  in  the  intrigues  of  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  and  in 
Thuillier's  affairs.  He  lived  successively  in  Paris,  on  the 
Rue  du  Gros-Chenet;*  the  Rue  Chabannais ;  and  the  Rue 
des  Poules,t  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  des  Postes.  In  1833 
he  had  become  possessed  of  an  acceptance  signed  by  Maxime 
de  Trailles ;  he  succeeded  by  Scapin  dodges  in  obtaining  a 
full  reimbursement  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T"— The  Middle 
Classes,  ee — A  Man  of  Business,  V\. 

Cerizet,  Olympe  Cardinal,  born  about  1824,  daughter  of 
Mme.  Cardinal,  fish  huckster.  An  actress  at  the  Bobino, 
Luxembourg; J  then  at  the  Folies-Dramatiques,||  where  she 
made  her  first  appearance  in  'Me  Telegraphe  de  1' Amour." 
She  was  then  the  mistress  of  the  first  comedian  ;  after  this  she 
had  Julien  Minard  as  a  lover;  from  the  father  of  the  last 
named  she  received  thirty  thousand  francs  to  renounce  his  son. 
This  money  formed  her  dot  and  contributed  to  bring  about 
her  marriage  to  Cerizet  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\> 

Cesarine,  a  clear-starcher  in  a  laundry  at  Alen^on.     The 

*  Now  become  the  Rue  du  Sentier. 

f  Now  the  Rue  Laromiqui^re. 

X  Up  to  twenty  years  after  this  theatre  formed  an  angle  in  the  Rues 
Madame  and  Fleurus,  and  had  as  manager,  about  1840,  M.  Tournemine. 

II  Under  the  direction  of  Mourier,  Boulevard  du  Temple,  toward  1862. 
The  first  patentees  or  directors  of  this  theatre,  opened  in  January,  1831, 
were  Allaux  senior  and  Leopold,  and  there  remained  most  of  the  time. 
AUaux  had  been  an  architect.  He  built  the  hall  on  the  site  of  the  old 
Ambigu,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  on  the  reconstructed  Boulevard 
Saint- Martin. 


COMEDIR   HUMAINE.  95 

mistress  of  the  Chevalier  de  Valois,  and  the  mother  of  a 
child  which  she  attributed  to  that  old  noble ;  it  was  noised 
about  in  that  town,  in  1816,  that  he  had  secretly  married  her. 
This  talk  greatly  vexed  the  chevalier,  who  hoped,  at  that 
time,  to  marry  Mile.  Cormon.  Cesarine,  who  was  the  sole 
legatee  of  her  lover,  did  not  receive  more  than  six  hundred 
livres  of  income  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Cesarine,  a  pretty  female  dancer  at  the  opera,  Paris, 
1822  ;  known  by  Philippe  Bridau,  and  who  at  one  time  he 
thought  of  fastening  on  to  his  uncle  Rouget,  at  Issoudun 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Chabert,  called  Hyacinthe,  Count,  grand  officer  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  colonel  of  a  cavalry  regiment.  Left  for 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle  at  Eylau,  February  7  and  8,  1807  ; 
he  was  cured  at  Heilsberg,  then  afterward  confined  in  an 
insane  asylum  at  Stuttgard.  He  returned  to  France  after  the 
fall  of  the  Empire  ;  in  1818  he  lived,  in  deep  poverty,  on  the 
Rue  du  Petit-Banquier,  Paris,  where  he  was  supported  by 
Vergniaud,  an  old  non-commissioned  officer  in  his  regiment. 
After  vainly  seeking  his  rights,  without  a  scandal,  of  Rose 
Chapotel,  his  wife — then  remarried  to  Comte  Ferraud — he 
again  fell  into  poverty  and  was  committed  as  a  vagabond. 
His  life  ended  at  the  Bicetre  Hospital — it  commenced  at  the 
Foundling  Hospital  [Colonel  Chabert,  i~\.  The  Parisian  stage 
has  twice  seized  upon  this  poignant  history,  at  an  interval  of 
twenty  years  between  each.  The  Vaudeville,  Rue  de  Chartres, 
in  1822,  presented  a  "Colonel  Chabert,"*  a  drama  in  two 
acts,  by  Louis  Lurine  and  Jacques  Arago  ;  and  still  more  fre- 
quently the  Beaumarchis  theatre,  under  Bartholy's  manage- 
ment, gave  another  *'  Colonel  Chabert,"  with  the  sub-title 
"The  Woman  with  Two  Husbands,"  the  author  being  Paul 
de  Faulquemont. 

Chabert,  Madame,  nee  Rose  Chapotel.  See  Ferraud, 
Comtesse. 

*  Played  for  the  first  time  by  Volnys  and  Mme.  Doche. 


96  COMPENDIUM 

Chaboisseau,  an  old  bookseller,  money  loaner  on  books, 
something  of  a  usurer,  a  millionaire,  living,  in  1821-22,  on 
the  Quai  Saint-Michel,  where  he  transacted  some  business 
with  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  brought  thither  by  Lousteau  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilf  ].  A  friend  of  Gobseck 
and  Gigonnet,  he  with  them  frequented  the  Cafe  Themis, 
situated  at  the  angle  of  the  Rue  Dauphine  and  Quai  des 
Augustins  [Les  Employes,  cc\  Under  Louis-Philippe,  he 
was  on  business  terms  with  the  Cerizet-Claparon  Company 
[A  Man  of  Business,  ?]. 

Chaffaroux,  a  building  contractor,  one  of  Cesar  Birotteau*s 
creditors  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  The  uncle  of  Claudine  Chaf- 
faroux, who  became  Mme.  du  Bruel.  Wealthy  and  a  bachelor, 
he  dearly  loved  his  niece  ;  she  had  helped  him  in  his  busi- 
ness. He  died  in  the  second  half  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign, 
leaving  forty  thousand  francs  to  the  former  ballet-girl  [A 
Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF\  In  1840  he  did  sundry  work  in  a 
house  bought  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Madeleine  by  the  Thuil- 
liers  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\  Chaffaroux  lived  for  some 
little  time  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris,  at  Nanterre. 

ChamaroUes,  Mesdemoiselles,  directors,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  century,  of  a  boarding-school  for  young 
girls  ;  they  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  in  the  department  and 
brought  up  Anna  Grossetdte,  who  soon  after  leaving  them  mar- 
ried the  third  son  of  Comte  de  Fontaine  ;  and  Dinah  Piedefer, 
who  became  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 

Champagnac,  a  traveling  tinker  of  Limoges,  Auvergnay, 
a  widower;  Jerome-Baptiste  Sauviat  married,  in  1797,  the 
daughter  of  Champagnac,  when  less  than  twenty  years  old 
[The  Country  Parson,  J^]. 

Champignelles,  De,  an  illustrious  family  of  Normandy. 
In  1822,  at  Bayeux,  a  marquis  of  Champignelles  was  the 
head  of  the  house,  the  prince  of  the  country  ;  by  marriage  this 
family  was  allied  to  the  Navarreins,  the  Blamont-Chauvrys, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  97 

and  the  Beaus^ants.  It  was  this  Marquis  de  Champignelles 
who  introduced  Gaston  de  Nueil  to  the  home  of  Mme.  de 
Beauseant  [A  Forsaken  Woman,  }i\.  A  M.  de  Champignelles 
— perhaps  the  same  one — presented,  with  MM.  de  Beauseant 
and  de  Vermeuil,  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie  to  Louis  XVIII.,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  Restoration.  Baronne  de  la  Chan- 
terie was,  indeed,  a  Champignelles  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T\ 

Champion,  Maurice,  a  young  boy  of  Montegnac,  Haute- 
Vienne,  son  of  the  master  of  post  horses  in  that  commune ; 
employed  as  a  stable-boy  by  Mme.  Graslin,  in  the  time  of 
Louis-Philippe  [The  Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Champlain,  Pierre,  a  vine-dresser,  a  neighbor  of  the 
lunatic  Margaritis,  Vouvray,  1831   [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o]. 

Champy,  Madame  de;  the  name  given  by  Baron  de 
Nucingen  to  Esther  Gobseck,  who  was  but  little  good  to  him 
after  he  had  bought  her  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z]. 

Chandour,  Stanislas  de;  born  in  1781 ;  one  of  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  Bargetons'  salon  at  Angouldme,  and  the 
"  beau  "  of  that  society.  In  1821  he  was  decorated  ;  he  made 
some  successes  with  women  by  his  pleasant  raillery  on  the 
people  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Having  spread  a  calum- 
nious report  in  the  town  about  Mme.  de  Bargeton  and  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  he  was  challenged  to  a  duel  by  her  husband 
and  received  a  bullet  in  his  neck,  a  wound  which  ever  after 
caused  him  to  have  a  kind  of  wry-neck  [Lost  Illusions,  1^\ 

Chandour,  Amelie  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  beautiful, 
talkative,  but  troubled  with  an  unacknowledged  asthma.  She 
posed  in  Angoulgme  as  the  contrast  to  her  friend,  Mme.  de 
Bargeton  [Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Chanor,  a  partner  of  Florent's,  both .  manufacturers  and 
dealers  in  bronzes,  Rue  des  Tournelles,  Paris,  under  Louis- 
Philippe.  Wenceslas  Steinbock  was  at  that  time  an  appren- 
tice to  this  firm,  and  afterward  worked  for  them  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\  In  1845  Frederic  Brunner  had  a  watch-chain 
7 


98  COMPENDIUM 

and  a  fancy  knob  for  a  cane  from  Florent  &  Chanor  [Cousin 
Pons,  dC\. 

Chanterie,  de  la,  Madame.  See  La  Chanterie,  Madame 
de. 

Chantonnit,  mayor  of  Riceys,  near  Besan^on,  between 
1830  and  1840.  He  was  originally  of  Neuchatel,  Switzer- 
land, and  a  republican  ;  he  had  a  trial  with  the  Watvilles ; 
Albert  Savarus  pleaded  for  them  against  Chantonnit  [Albert 
Savaron,  jf]. 

Chapeloud,  Abbe,  prebendary  of  St.  Gatien's  church, 
Tours.  The  intimate  friend  of  Abbe  Birotteau,  he  died  in 
1824,  leaving  him  his  furniture  and  quite  a  valuable  library, 
which  had  long  been  ardently  desired  by  the  simple  priest 
[The  Abbe  Birotteau,  i^. 

Chaperon,  Abbe,  the  cure  of  Nemours,  Seine-et-Marne, 
since  the  reestablishment  of  worship  after  the  Revolution ; 
born  in  1755,  ^^^^  1S41,  in  that  town.  A  friend  of  Dr. 
Minoret's,  he  assisted  in  the  education  of  Ursule  Mirouet,  the 
niece  of  the  physician.  He  was  surnamed  "  the  Fenelon  du 
Gatinais. "  His  successor  was  the  cure  of  St.  Lange,  the  priest 
who  tried  to  give  the  consolations  of  religion  to  Mme.  d' Aigle- 
mont  when  a  prey  to  despair  [Ursule  Mirouet,  H.\ 

Chapotel,  Rose,  the  family  name  of  Mme.  Chabert,  who 
afterward  became  Comtesse  Ferraud.     See  that  name. 

Chapoulot,  M.  AND  Mme.,  formerly  lace-dealers,  Rue 
Saint-Denis,  1845  ^  tenants  in  the  house  in  which  lived  Pons 
and  Schmucke,  on  the  Rue  Normandie.  One  evening,  when 
M.  and  Mme.  Chapoulot  returned  from  the  Ambigu-Comique* 
theatre,  accompanied  by  their  daughter  Victorine,  they  met 

■^  This  theatre  has  not  been  situated  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple  since 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  Charles  X.,  and  was  directed,  in  the  Boule- 
vard St.  Martin,  by  Anthony  B^raud.  The  hall  on  the  boulevard  called 
"  du  Crime  "  was  burned  down  July  14,  1827.  The  Boulevard  St.  Martin 
theatre  was  opened  June  7,  1829,  on  the  site  of  the  H5tel  Jambonne,  with 
the  "  Muse  du  Boulevard  "  as  the  prologue  at  the  inauguration. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  99 

on  the  stairs  Heloise  Brisetout,  and  a  little  conjugal  scene 
followed  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Chapuzot,  M.  AND  Mme.,  janitors  of  Marguerite  Turquet, 
called  Malaga,  Rue  des  Fosses-du-Temple,*  Paris,  1836;  they 
afterward  became  her  servants  and  confidents  when  she  was 
kept  by  Thaddee  Paz  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  Ti\. 

Chapuzot,  head  of  the  division  of  the  prefecture  of  police, 
in  the  time  of  Louis-Philippe ;  was  visited  and  consulted, 
1843,  t>y  Victorin  Hulot,  on  the  subject  of  Mme.  de  Saint- 
Esteve  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Chardin,  Father,  a  drunken  old  mattress-maker.  In  1843 
he  acted  as  the  intermediary  between  Baron  Hulot,  hiding 
under  the  name  of  Daddy  Thoul,  and  his  Cousin  Betty,  who 
hid  his  unworthiness  from  the  family  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Chardin,  son  of  the  preceding.  At  one  time  watchman 
at  Johann  Fischer's  warehouse,  contractor  for  provender  to 
the  minister  of  war  in  the  province  of  Oran,  from  1838  to 
1841  ;  after  this  was  a  claquer  in  the  theatre,  under  Braulard, 
then  known  by  the  name  of  Idamore.  The  brother  of  Elodie 
Chardin,  whom  he  procured  for  Daddy  Thoul,  in  order  to 
supplant  Olympe  Bijou,  of  whom  he  had  always  been  the 
lover.  After  Olympe  Bijou,  Chardin  had  for  mistress,  in 
1843,  a  leading  lady  of  the  Funambulesf  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Chardin,  Elodie,  sister  of  Chardin,  called  Idamore  [/<^/^.]. 

Chardon,  an  old  surgeon  in  the  armies  of  the  Republic, 
established  as  a  pharmacist  at  Angouleme,  under  the  Empire. 
His  time  was  occupied  in  discovering  a  cure  for  the  gout, 
and,  also,  in  trying  to  invent  a  process  by  which  vegetable 
matter  could  be  used  in  paper-making  in  place  of  rags,  after 
the  Chinese  manner.  He  died  at  Paris  after  the  Restoration  ; 
he  had  gone  there  to  seek  the  approbation  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  but,  hopeless  of  success,  committed  suicide ;  he  left 
a  widow  and  two  children  in  poverty  [Lost  Illusions,  lf\ 

*  Not  in  existence  since  1863. 
f  Torn  down  in  June,  1862. 


100  COMPENDIUM 

Chardon,  Madame,  7iee  Rubempre,  wife  of  the  foregoing. 
The  last  shoot  of  an  illustrious  family,  saved  from  the  scaffold 
by  the  surgeon-soldier,  Chardon,  who  declared  that  she  was 
e?iceinte  by  him,  and  afterward  married  her,  in  spite  of  their 
mutual  poverty.  Reduced  to  wretchedness  by  the  sudden 
death  of  her  husband,  she  took  service  as  a  sick-nurse  under 
the  name  of  Charlotte.  She  worshiped  her  two  children,  Eve 
and  Lucien.  Madame  Chardon  died  in  1827  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, JV^— The  Harlot's  Progress,  'Y\ 

Chardon,  Lucien.     See  Rubempre,  Chardon  de. 

Chardon,  Eve.     See  Sechard,  Madame  David. 

Charels,  The,  honest  farmers  in  the  environs  of  Alengon, 
father  and  mother  of  Olympe  Charel,  who  became  Michaud's 
wife,  the  head  keeper  on  General  de  Montcornet's  property 
[The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Chargeboeuf,  Marquis  de,  a  country  gentleman,  born 
in  1739;  head  of  the  house  of  Chargeboeuf,  in  the  time  of 
the  Consulate  and  the  Empire.  His  estates  were  situated  in 
the  department  of  Seine-et-Marne,  in  that  of  I'Aube.  A  rel- 
ative of  the  Hauteserres  and  Simeuses,  whose  names  had  been 
stricken  off  the  list  of  emigres  by  his  aid  in  1804;  he  assisted 
them  also  in  their  trial  on  the  charge  of  abducting  Senator 
Malin.  He  was  likewise  a  relative  of  Laurence  de  Cinq- 
Cygne.  The  Chargeboeufs  and  Cinq-Cygnes  were  of  the  same 
origin,  they  bore  the  Frank  name  Duineff  in  common  ;  Cinq- 
Cygne  became  the  family  name  of  the  younger  branch  of  the 
Chargeboeufs.  The  marquis  was  intimate  with  Talleyrand, 
and  by  his  aid  was  able  to  deliver  a  petition  to  First  Consul 
Bonaparte.  M.  de  Chargeboeuf  seemed  reconciled  to  the  new 
order  of  things  which  began  in  '89 ;  at  any  rate  this  showed 
much  political  shrewdness.  His  family  counted  their  old 
titles  as  having  come  from  the  days  of  the  Crusaders ;  the  name 
came  from  the  exploit  of  a  squire  of  St.  Louis  in  Egypt  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff — Pierrette,  t]. 

Chargeboeuf,  Madame  de,  mother  of  Bathilde  de  Charge- 


COMEDIE  nUMAINE.  101 

boeuf,  wno  married  Denis  Rogron.  She  lived  with  her 
daughter  at  Troves,  under  the  Restoration  ;  she  was  poor  but 
of  haughty  carriage  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Chargeboeuf,  Bathilde,  daughter  of  the  above;  she 
married  Denis  Rogron.     See  Rogron,  Madame. 

Chargeboeuf,  Melchior-Rene,  Vicomte  de  ;  of  the  poor 
branch  of  Chargebceufs.  Appointed  a  sub-prefect  of  Arcis- 
sur-Aube  in  1815,  by  the  favor  of  Mme.  de  Cinq-Cygne,  his 
relative ;  he  there  knew  Severine  Beauvisage ;  they  became 
lovers,  and  a  daughter,  named  Cecile-Renee,  was  the  result  of 
their  intimacy  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>1>].  In  1820  Vi- 
comte de  Chargeboeuf  passed  through  Sancerre,  where  he  was 
friendly  with  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye ;  she  would  probably  have 
*' accepted  his  attentions,"  but  he  was  appointed  prefect  and 
left  that  town  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Chargeboeuf,  De,  secretary  to  Granville,  the  attorney- 
general,  Paris,  1830  ;  he  was  then  a  young  man.  He  had 
charge,  by  direction  of  his  superior,  of  the  funeral  of  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  so  arranging  it  that  it  would  be  thought  that  he 
had  died  at  liberty  and  in  his  own  lodging,  Quai  Malaquais 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Z\ 

Chargegrain,  Louis,  an  inn-keeper  of  Littray,  Normandy. 
Affiliated  v/ith  the  ''Brigands";  he  was  implicated  in  the 
trial  of  the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne,  1809,  and  acquitted  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Charles,  the  Christian  name  of  a  young  painter,  good 
enough  at  a  pinch,  who  in  181 9  took  his  meals  at  Vauquer's 
boarding-house.  An  assistant  teacher  in  the  college  and  an 
employe  of  the  Museum  ;  full  of  fun,  very  fond  of  joking, 
and  of  whom  Goriot  was  often  the  victim  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Charles,  an  impudent  young  man,  killed  in  a  duel  with 
pistols  by  Valentin  at  Aix,  Savoy,  1831.  Charles  boasted  of 
having  "received  the  degrees  of  a  Bachelor  in  shooting" 
from  Lepage,  at  Paris,  and  that  of  Doctor  from  Lozes,  "  the 
king  of  fencers  "  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A^ 


102  COMPENDIUM 

Charles,  valet  to  M.  d'Aiglemont,  Paris,  1823.  The  mar- 
quis complained  of  the  negligence  of  his  servant  [A  Woman 
of  Thirty,  H\ 

Charles,  Comte  de  Montcornet's  footman  at  the  Aigues, 
Bourgogne,  1823.  For  his  own  wicked  ends  he  pretended  to 
woo  Catherine  Tonsard,  and  was  encourged  in  his  gallantry 
by  Fourchon,  the  maternal  grandfather  of  that  girl,  who  de- 
sired to  have  a  spy  in  the  castle.  In  the  struggle  of  the  peas- 
ants against  the  Aigues  he  was  mostly  on  their  side  :  *'  I  came 
from  the  people  and  remain  attached  to  them"  [The  Peas- 
antry, M\. 

Charlotte,  a  great  lady,  a  duchess,  and  a  widow  without 
children.  Loved  by  de  Marsay,  who  was  then  not  more  than 
seventeen,  while  she  was  six  years  older  than  he ;  she  de- 
ceived him,  and  he  was  angered  at  her  giving  him  a  rival. 
She  died  at  an  early  age  of  consumption  ;  her  husband  was  a 
statesman  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  ?]. 

Charlotte,  Madame,  the  name  taken,  1822,  at  Angoul^me, 
by  Madame  Chardon,  when  obliged  to  go  out  as  a  sick-nurse 
[Lost  Illusions,  ^]. 

Chatelet,  Sixte,  Baron  du,  born  in  1776  ;  was  only  plain 
Sixte  Chatelet.  He  qualified,  1806,  for  and  was  named 
baron  soon  after  under  the  Empire.  He  commenced  his 
career  as  secretary  to  an  imperial  princess ;  then  entered  the 
diplomatic  ranks,  and  finally,  under  the  Restoration,  was 
appointed  by  M.  de  Barante  director  of  indirect  taxes  at 
Angouleme,  where  he  knew  Mme.  de  Bargeton  and  whom  he 
married  when  she  became  a  widow,  at  the  end  of  1821  ;  he 
was  at  that  time  prefect  of  the  Charente  [Lost  Illusions,  _^]. 
In  1824  he  was  comte  and  deputy  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 
Chatelet  accompanied  General  Marquis  Armand  de  Montri- 
veau  in  his  perilous  and  famous  enterprise  in  Egypt  [The 
Duchess  of  Langeais,  &&]. 

Chatelet,  Marie-Louise-Anais  de  Negrepelisse,  Bar- 
ONNE  DU,  born  in   1 785  ;   a  cousin  by  marriage  of  the  Mar- 


COM^DIE   HUMATNE.  103 

quise  d'Espard  ;  married  in  1803  to  M.  de  Bargeton,  Angou- 
leme;  a  widow,  in  1821,  she  married  Baron  Sixte  dii  Chatelet, 
prefect  of  the  Charente.  Smitten  at  one  time  by  Lucien  de 
Rubempre,  she  drew  that  ambitious  provincial  in  her  train 
to  Paris,*  and  there  deserted  her  lover  at  the  instigation  of 
Chatelet  and  Mme.  d'Espard  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  ]K\  In  1824,  Mme.  du  Chatelet  attended  Mme. 
Rabourdin's  soirees  [Les  Employes,  cc\-  Under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Abbe  Niolant  (or  Niollant)  Mme.  du  Chatelet, 
orphaned  of  her  mother,  had  been  raised  physically  well  at 
I'Escarbes,  on  a  small  paternal  estate  situated  near  Barbezieux 
[Lost  Illusions,  JSf\ 

Chatillonest,  De,  an  old  military  officer ;  father  of  the 
Marquise  d'Aiglemont ;  he  saw  with  regret  her  marriage  to 
the  brilliant  colonel,  her  cousin  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  /S^]. 
The  motto  of  the  house  of  Chatillonest  (or  Chastillonest)  was : 
Fulgens,  sequar  or  brillante^  je  te  suivrai.  Jean  Butscha  had 
placed  this  on  his  seal,  surmounted  by  a  star  [Modeste 
Mignon,  K.\ 

Chaudet,  Antoine-Denis,  sculptor  and  painter;  born  in 
Paris,  1763  ;  was  interested  in  Joseph  Bridau's  budding  fame 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  Jf\ 

Chaulieu,  Henri,  Due  de;  born  in  1773  5  peer  of  France, 
a  gentleman  of  the  Courts  of  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X., 
chiefly  in  favor  by  the  second  of  these  kings.  After  being  the 
French  ambassador  at  Madrid,  he  was,  at  the  commencement 
of  1830,  minister  for  foreign  affairs.  He  had  three  children  : 
the  Due  de  Rhetore,  the  eldest ;  a  second  son  who  became, 
by  his  marriage  with  Madeleine  de  Mortsauf,  Due  de  Lenon- 
court-Givry;  and  a  daughter,  Armande-Louise-Marie,  who 
was  at  one  time  married  to  the  Baron  de  Macumer,  and, 
becoming  a  widow,  afterward  to  the  poet  Marie  Gaston  [Let- 

*She  lived  successively  on  the  Rue  de  I'Echelle,  at  the  hotel  du  Gail- 
lard-Bois — since  been  razed — and  the  Rue  Luxembourg,  really  tlie  Rue 
Cambon. 


104  COMPENDIUM 

ters  of  Two  Brides,  v — Modeste  Mignon,  JST — A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  J\  The  Due  de  Chaulieu,  friendly  with  the 
Grandlieus,  obtained  from  them  the  promise  that  they  would 
obtain  the  title  of  marquis  for  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who  pre- 
tended to  the  hand  of  their  daughter  Clotilde  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  ]F].  The  Due  de  Chaulieu,  when  living  in  Paris, 
was  on  a  footing  of  great  intimaey  with  the  same  Grandlieus, 
of  the  eldest  braneh  ;  more  than  that,  he  was  greatly  interested 
in  all  their  family  affairs :  he  employed  Corentin  to  elear  up 
the  dark  side  of  Clotilde's  fiatice' s  life  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, 'Y\  Preceding  this,  M.  de  Chaulieu  took  part  in  a 
solemn  family  council  met  to  decide  on  a  difficult  question  of 
a  relative  of  the  Grandlieus,  Madame  de  Langeais  [The  Thir- 
teen, BB\ 

Chaulieu,  Eleonore,  Duchesse  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing. 
A  friend  of  M.  d'Aubrion,  she  was  able  to  arrange  a  marriage 
between  Mile.  d'Aubrion  and  Charles  Grandet  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  JEi\  For  a  long  time  she  was  the  poet  Canalis' 
mistress,  though  she  was  much  older  than  he ;  she  protected 
him,  pushed  him  on  in  the  world  and  in  public  life,  but, 
being  exceedingly  jealous,  closely  watched  him  ;  at  the  age  of 
fifty  she  returned  to  him  again.  Mme.  du  Chaulieu  bore  her 
husband  three  children,  described  in  her  husband's  biography. 
Her  pride  and  coquetry  caused  her  to  be  little  sensible  to 
maternal  sentiments.  During  the  last  years  of  the  second 
Restoration,  Eleonore  de  Chaulieu  followed,  not  far  from 
Rosny,  on  the  Normandy  road,  a  nearly  royal  chase  after 
what  her  heart  was  engaged  upon  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  V — 
Modeste  Mignon,  JfiC]. 

Chaulieu,  Armande-Louise-Marte  de,  daughter  of  the 
Due  and  Duchesse  de  Chaulieu.     See  Marie  Gaston,  Madame. 

Chaussard,  The  brothers,  innkeepers  at  Louvigny,  Orne, 
old  game-keepers  on  the  Troisville  estate ;  implicated  in  the 
trial  called  that  of  the  Chauff'eurs  of  Mortagne,  1809.  The 
eldest  Chaussard,  condemned  to  twenty  years  at  hard  labor. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  105 

was  taken  to  the  hulks,  but  soon  after  received  the  Emperor's 
pardon.  The  younger  Chaussard,  for  treason,  was  condemned 
to  death ;  some  time  after  he  was  thrown  into  the  sea  by  M. 
de  Boislaurier  for  having  betrayed  the  cause  of  the  Chouans. 
A  third  Chaussard,  seduced  into  the  police  by  Contehson,  was 
assassinated  in  a  nocturnal  scrimmage  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T]. 

Chavoncourt,  De,  a  gentleman  of  Besan^on,  much  es- 
teemed in  that  town,  the  representative  of  an  old  parliamentary 
family.  A  deputy  under  Charles  X.;  one  of  the  famous  two 
hundred  and  twenty-one  who  signed  the  address  to  the  King, 
March  i8,  1830 ;  he  was  reelected  under  Louis-Philippe.  The 
father  of  three  children,  he  had  a  small  enough  income.  The 
Chavoncourts  were  friendly  with  the  Wattevilles  [Albert  Sa- 
varon,  /*]. 

Chavoncourt,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  preceding,  and 
one  of  the  beautiful  women  of  Besan^on.  Born  about  1794; 
mother  of  three  children,  she  wisely  managed  her  household 
with  the  meagre  resources  at  her  disposal  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Chavoncourt,  De;  born  in  1812.  The  son  of  M.  and 
Mme.  de  Chavoncourt,  Besan^on ;  a  college  companion  and 
intimate  friend  of  M.  de  Vauchelles  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Chavoncourt,  Victoire  de,  the  second  child  and  eldest 
daughter  of  M.  and  Mme.  de  Chavoncourt;  born  1816  or 
181 7.  In  1834  M.  de  Vauchelles  intended  to  marry  her 
[Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Chavoncourt,  Sidonie  de,  third  and  last  child  of  M.  and 
Mme.  de  Chavoncourt,  Besan^on ;  born  in  1818  [Albert  Sa- 
varon, f\ 

Chazelle,  an  employe  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  M. 
Baudoyer's  office.  Married,  he  was  tyrannized  by  his  wife, 
and  would  have  liked  to  have  been  thought  free  from  her;  she 
quarreled  with  Paulmier,  a  bachelor,  without  ceasing,  on  the 
most  absurd  and  trivial  matters.  One  smoked  and  the  other 
took  snuff;  these  different  ways  of  absorbing  tobacco  was  the 


106  COMPENDIUM 

subject  of  continual  discussion  between  Chazelle  and  Paul- 
mier  [Les  Employes,  cc\ 

Chelius,  a  physician  of  Heidelberg,  with  whom  Halper- 
sohn  corresponded  in  the  time  of  Louis-Philippe  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Chervin,  a  corporal  of  gendarmes  at  Montegnac,  near 
Limoges,  in  1829  [The  Country  Parson,   'F\ 

Chesnel,  or  Choisnel,  a  notary  at  Alengon,  in  the  time 
of  Louis  XVIIL;  born  in  1753.  A  former  steward  of  the 
house  of  Gordes  and  also  of  the  Esgrignon  family,  whose 
estates  he  saved  in  the  Revolution ;  a  widower,  without 
children,  he  possessed  a  considerable  fortune;  his  clientage 
was  of  the  aristocracy,  notably  that  of  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie ; 
he  was  everywhere  received  with  the  distinction  his  virtues 
merited.  M.  du  Bousquier  had  a  deep  hatred  for  him,  as  he 
attributed  the  refusal  of  Mile.  d'Esgrignon's  hand  to  him  and 
that  it  had  been  instigated  by  Chesnel ;  he  still  nourished  this 
feeling  after  having  married  Mile.  Cormon.  In  1824,  by  a  skill- 
ful manoeuvre,  Chesnel  saved  young  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon 
from  the  Assize  Court — he  had  been  guilty  of  a  crime.  The 
old  notary  died  shortly  after  that  affair  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T — Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  AA'\, 

Chessel,  De,  owner  of  the  castle  and  estates  of  Frapesle, 
near  Sache,  Touraine.  A  friend  of  the  Vandenesses,  he  intro- 
duced their  son,  Felix,  to  the  Mortsaufs,  his  neighbors.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  manufacturer  named  Durand,  who  became 
wealthy  under  the  Revolution ;  he  had  completely  dropped 
that  name ;  he  took  that  of  his  wife,  the  sole  heiress  of  the 
Chessels,  an  old  parliamentary  family.  M.  de  Chessel  had 
been  governor-general  and  twice  a  deputy.  He  received  the 
title  of  count  under  Louis  XVIII.  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Chessel,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  is 
discovered  at  her  toilet  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X].  In 
1824  she  was  a  frequenter  of  Mme.  Rabourdin's  drawing- 
rooms,  Paris  [Les  Employes,  cc]* 


CO  MED  IE  _  HUMAINE.  107 

Chevrel,  M.  and  Madame,  founders  of  the  "  Cat  and 
Racket,"  Rue  Saint-Denis,  Paris,  at  the  close  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  The  father  and  mother  of  Mme.  Guillaume, 
whose  husband  kept  on  the  business  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat 
and  Racket,  f]. 

Chevrel,  a  rich  banker,  Paris,  at  the  very  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  doubtless  the  brother  and 
brother-in-law  of  the  foregoing,  and  had  a  daughter  who 
married  Maitre  Rougin  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f\. 

Chiavari,  Prince  de,  brother  of  the  Due  de  Vissembourg ; 
son  of  Marechal  Vernon  [Beatrix,  _P]. 

Chiffreville,  M.  and  Mme.,  druggists  and  dealers  in 
chemicals,  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  ;  they  were  prosperous 
and  had  as  partners  MM.  Protez  and  Cochin.  This  firm 
had  frequent  commercial  dealings  with  the  *' Queen  of 
Roses,"  kept  by  Cesar  Birotteau  ;  they  also  supplied  Balthazar 
Claes  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  2>]. 

Chigi,  Prince,  a  Roman  great  lord,  1758.  He  boasted 
of  having  *'  made  a  soprano  of  Zambinella,"  and  revealed 
to  Sarrasine  that  that  creature  was  not  a  woman  [Sarra- 
sine,  dsi^  II.]. 

Chisse,  Madame  de,  great-aunt  of  M.  du  Bruel ;  an  old, 
miserly  provincial  woman,  at  whose  home  the  ex-dancer, 
TuUia,  after  becoming  Mme.  du  Bruel,  happily  passed  a  sum- 
mer, hypocritically  pretending  to  practice  all  the  austerities  of 
religion  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  JFF~\. 

Chocardelle,  Mademoiselle,  known  by  the  name  of 
Antonia,  a  Parisian  courtesan  during  the  reign  of  Louis- 
Philippe  ;  born  in  1814.  Maxime  de  Trailles  declared  that 
she  was  a  brainy  woman  of  intelligence,  "  indeed,  she  is  my 
pupil,"  said  he.  About  1834 — she  lived  at  that  time  on  the 
Rue  Helder — she  was  for  a  fortnight  Palferine's  mistress,  he 
who,  in  a  famous  letter,  begged  her  to  forward  him  the  tooth- 
brush he  had  left  behind  [Beatrix,  JP — A  Prince  of  Bohe- 
mia, FF~\.     She  once  held  a  writing-desk  which  had  been 


108  COMPENDIUM 

given  her  by  M.  de  Trailles — this  was  on  the  Rue  Coquenard.* 
She  had  also  *'  thoroughly  rinsed  out  the  little  d'Esgrignon  " 
[A  Man  of  Business,  V\.  In  1838  she  assisted  at  the  inauguration 
festival  in  Josepha  Mirah's  mansion,  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEveque 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\  She  went  with  her  lover,  Maxime  de 
Trailles,  to  Arcis-sur-Aube,  in  1839,  to  second  him  in  his 
officious  interference  in  the  election  of  a  deputy  ;  at  the  same 
time  she  tried  to  collect  a  bill  of  exchange  for  ten  thousand 
francs  which  had  been  signed  and  given  her  by  Charles  Kel- 
ler, deceased.  She  followed  by  becoming  Phileas  Beauvisage's 
mistress,  which  cost  him  pretty  dear  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  DD]. 

Choin,  Mademoiselle,  a  good  Catholic,  who  built  a 
priests'  house  on  land  she  bought  expressly  for  that  purpose, 
at  Blangy,  in  the  eighteenth  century ;  afterward  acquired  by 
Rigou  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Choisnel.     See  Chesnel. 

ChoUet,  Mother,  janitor  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  du 
Sentier,  where  Finot's  newspaper  office  was,  182 1  [A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  M.\ 

Chrestien,  Michel,  a  Federalist  Republican  ;  a  member 
of  the  Cenacle  of  the  Rue  des  Quatre- Vents ;  he  was  in  1819 
invited  with  all  his  friends  to  the  house  of  Mme.  Bridau,  the 
widow  of  Joseph  Bridau,  to  celebrate  the  return  from  Texas 
of  her  eldest  son  Philippe.  He  would  pass  on  the  roll  of 
history  for  a  Roman  senator.  Joseph  Bridau,  the  painter, 
was  his  friend  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\  About 
1822,  Chrestien  had  a  duel  with  Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre 
in  reference  to  Daniel  d'Arthez.  A  great  but  unknown  states- 
man ;  he  was  killed  at  the  convent  of  St.  Merri,  June  6,  1832, 
as  he  was  defending  the  cause  for  which  he  had  worked 
[A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JT].  Foolishly  smitten 
by  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse,  he  did  not  confess  his  love  until 
at  the  last  a  letter  was  found  upon  him  addressed  to  her,  and 
*  Since  1848  Rue  Lambertine. 


CO  ME  DIE  HUMAINE.  109 

which  was  not  delivered  until  he  was  dead.  In  the  riots 
of  July,  1830,  for  love  of  the  duchess,  he  saved  the  life  of 
M.  de  Maufrigneuse  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadig- 
nan,  z\ 

Christemio,  a  creole,  the  foster-father  of  Paquita  Valdes, 
who  constituted  himself  her  protector,  and  became  her 
body-guard.  The  Marquise  de  San-Real  had  him  killed 
for  assisting  the  intimacy  between  Paquita  and  de  Marsay 
[The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

Christophe,  originally  from  Savoy.  A  servant  of  Mme. 
Vauquer,  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  Paris,  in  1819  \  he 
attended  Goriot's  funeral  with  Rastignac  only,  accompanying 
the  corpse  to  Pere-Lachaise  in  the  priest's  carriage  [Father 
Goriot,  G\. 

Cibot,  called  Galope-Chopine,  also  called  the  Great  Cibot. 
A  Chouan  mixed  up  in  the  insurrection  in  Brittany,  1799; 
he  was  beheaded  by  his  cousin  Cibot,  called  Pille-Miche,  and 
Marche-a-Terre,  for  having  unknowingly  allowed  the  Blues  to 
learn  the  position  of  the  '^Brigands"  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Cibot,  Barbette,  the  wife  of  Cibot,  called  Galope-Chopine. 
She  went  to  the  Blues,  after  learning  of  the  death  of  her 
husband,  and  devoted  her  son,  then  quite  a  child,  to  the 
Republican  cause,  out  of  revenge  [The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Cibot,  Jean,  called  Pille-Miche,  one  of  the  Chouans  of 
the  insurrection  in  Brittany,  1799  ;  the  cousin  of  Cibot,  called 
Galope-Chopine,  and  his  murderer.  This  was  the  same  Pille- 
Miche  who  with  a  gunshot  killed  Adjutant  Gerard,  of  the 
72d  demi-brigade,  at  la  Vivetiere  [The  Chouans,  JS\.  He  was 
noted  among  his  accomplices  for  his  hardihood,  in  the  sec- 
ond affair  of  the  "  Brigands,"  that  of  the  Chauffeurs  of  Mor- 
tagne.  He  was  tried  and  executed  in  1809  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T\ 

Cibot,  born  in  1786.  From  181 8  to  1845  he  was  a  tailor- 
janitor  in  a  house  on  the  Rue  de  Normandie,  belonging  to 
Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  and  where  lived,  at   the   time  of 


110  COMPENDIUM 

Louis-Philippe,  the  two  musicians  Pons  and  Schmucke. 
Poisoned  by  the  junk-dealer,  Remonencq,  Cibot  died  at  his 
post,  the  same  day  as  did  Sylvain  Pons,  in  April,  1845  [Cousin 
Pons,  QC\. 

Cibot,  Madame.     See  Remonencq,  Madame. 

Cicognara,  a  Roman  cardinal,  1758,  the  patron  of  Zam- 
binella,  the  castrated  singer.  He  caused  Sarrasine  to  be  assas- 
sinated as  he  was  about  to  kill  Zambinella  [Sarrasine,  ds^  II.]. 

Cinq-Cygne,  the  name  of  an  illustrious  family  of  Cham- 
pagne, the  youngest  branch  of  the  Chargeboeufs :  these  two 
branches  of  the  same  tree  had  one  common  origin  in  the 
Duineffs,  of  the  old  Frank  race.  The  name  of  Cinq-Cygne* 
was  given  them  for  the  defense  of  the  castle,  in  the  absence  of 
their  father,  by  five  daughters,  all  remarkably  fair  complex- 
ioned.  On  the  blazon  of  the  Cinq-Cygnes  they  had  placed 
for  device  the  response  made  by  the  eldest  of  the  five  sisters 
when  summoned  to  surrender :  We  die  singing  !  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff\ 

Cinq-Cygne,  Comtesse  de,  mother  of  Laurence  de  Cinq- 
Cygne.  A  widow  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  she  died 
from  an  increased  attack  of  nervous  fever,  after  an  assault  by 
the  populace  on  her  castle,  at  Troyes,  1793  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  j(f]. 

Cinq-Cygne,  Marquis  de,  the  name  of  Adrien  d'Hau- 
teserre  after  his  marriage  to  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne.  See 
Hauteserre,  Adrien  d'. 

Cinq-Cygne,  Laurence,  Comtesse,  then  Marquise  de, 
born  in  1781.  Orphaned  of  father  and  mother  at  twelve 
years  of  age,  she  lived,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
and  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth,  with  her  guardian  and 
relation,  M.  d'Hauteserre,  at  Cinq-Cygne,  Aube  ;  she  was 
beloved  by  her  two  cousins,  Paul-Marie  and  Marie-Paul  de 
Simeuse,  and  by  the  youngest  son  of  her  guardian,  Adrien 
d'Hauteserre,  the  latter  of  whom  she  married  in  1813.  Lau- 
*  Five  swans. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  Ill 

rence  de  Cinq-Cygne  struggled  valiantly  against  the  cunning 
and  redoubtable  police  imbued  with  the  soul  of  Corentin. 
The  King  of  France  had  at  once  approved  the  arms  of  the 
Comte  de  Champagne,  by  virtue  of  which  the  family  of  Cinq- 
Cygne  ''  were  ennobled  in  succession  "  ;  the  husband  of  Lau- 
rence took  the  name  and  blazon  of  his  wife.  Although  an 
ardent  Royalist  she  nevertheless  sought  the  Emperor  just  be- 
fore the  battle  of  Jena,  1806,  to  ask  of  him  the  pardon  of 
the  two  Simeuses  and  the  two  Hauteserres,  implicated  in  a 
political  trial  and  condemned,  in  spite  of  their  innocence,  to 
hard  labor.  Her  audacity  was  successful.  The  Marquise  de 
Cinq-Cygne  gave  two  children  to  her  husband,  Paul  and 
Berthe.  This  family  passed  the  winter  at  Paris,  in  a  noble 
mansion  situated  in  the  faubourg  du  Roule*  [A  Historical 
Mystery, /yj.  In  1832  Mme.  de  Cinq-Cygne,  on  the  request 
of  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  consented  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Princesse  de  Cadignan,  who  had  reformed  [The  Secrets  of  the 
Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^\  In  1836  Mme.  de  Cinq-Cygne 
was  a  frequent  visitor  of  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\  Under  the  Restoration,  and  chiefly 
under  Charles  X.,  Mme.  de  Cinq-Cygne  exercised  a  sort  of 
sovereignty  in  the  department  of  the  Aube,  more  so  than  the 
Comte  de  Gondreville,  by  means  of  her  alliances  and  her  liber- 
ality throughout  the  country.  Some  time  after  the  death  of 
Louis  XVIII.  she  had  Francois  Michu  appointed  president  of 
the  tribunal  at  Arcis  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDJ)]. 

Cinq-Cygne,  Jules  de,  the  only  brother  of  Laurence  de 
Cinq-Cygne.  He  emigrated  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Revolution,  and  died  at  Mayence,  for  the  Royalist  cause  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Cinq-Cygne,  Paul  de,  son  of  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne 
and  of  Adrien  d'PIauteserre ;  he  became  marquis  after  the 
death  of  his  father  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff^ 

*  A  portion  of  the  actual  faubourg  Saint-Honor^,  between  the  Rue  dq 
la  Boetie  and  1' Avenue  de  Wagram. 


112  COMPENDIUM 

Cinq-Cygne,  Berthe  de.  See  Maufrigneuse,  Madame 
Georges  de. 

Ciprey,  of  Provins,  Seine-et-Marne.  Nephew  of  the  ma- 
ternal grandmother  of  Pierrette  Lorrain ;  he  formed  a  part  of 
the  family  council  which  assembled,  in  1828,  to  decide  whether 
that  young  girl  should  remain  under .  the  guardianship  of 
Denis  Rogron  ;  the  council  replaced  Rogron  by  Auffray  the 
notary,  and  appointed  Ciprey  guardian-surrogate  [Pier- 
rette, i\ 

Claes-Molina,  Balthazar,  Comte  de  Nourho;  born  at 
Douai*  in  1761 ;  died,  in  the  same  town,  1832 ;  the  issue  of  a 
celebrated  family  of  Flemish  weavers,  allied,  under  Philippe 
IL,  to  a  very  noble  Spanish  family.  He  married,  1795,  Jo- 
sephine de  Temninck,  of  Brussels,  and  lived  happily  with  her 
till  1809,  at  which  time  a  Polish  officer,  Adam  de  Wierzch- 
ownia,  a  refugee  and  guest  of  Claes,  read  to  him  a  treatise 
on  the  unity  of  metals.  From  this  time,  Balthazar,  who  had 
made  a  study  of  chemistry  with  Lavoisier,  became  exclusively 
engaged  in  the  **  Quest  of  the  Absolute  "  ;  he  consumed  seven 
millions  in  experiments,  and  allowed  his  wife  to  die  of  vexa- 
tion. From  1820  to  1852  he  was  tax-collector  in  Brittany, 
the  functions  of  which  were  performed  by  his  eldest  daughter, 
and  which  post  had  been  secured  in  order  to  draw  him  from 
his  fruitless  studies.  She  reestablished  the  fortunes  of  the 
family  during  that  period.  Balthazar  Claes  died,  all  but  a 
lunatic,  shouting  "  Eureka"  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  _!>]. 

Claes,  Josephine  de  Temninck,  Madame,  wife  of  Balthazar 
Claes;  born  at  Brussels  in  1770;  died  at  Douai,  1816;  of 
Spanish  descent  on  her  mother's  side,  she  was  usually  called 

*  This  country  has  kept  the  appearance,  costumes,  and  manners  dear  to 
Balthazar  Claes  Molina — they  have  f^tes  at  Gayant,  and  pass  the  summer 
at  Orchies.  Douai  still  contains — the  most  notable  being  St.  Pierre's 
church — a  number  of  ancient  gable-roofed  houses,  with  iron-shuttered,  old- 
fashioned  windows.  The  d'Esquerchin,  the  Rue  de  Paris,  the  Place 
Saint-Jacques  still  exist  as  they  were  in  his  time. 


COMEDJE  HUMAINE.  113 

Pepita.  Little,  crooked,  lame,  with  thick  black  hair  and 
ardent  eyes.  She  bore  her  husband  four  children  :  Marguerite, 
Felicie,  Gabriel  (or  Gustave),  and  Jean-Balthazar.  She  pas- 
sionately loved  her  husband ;  so  she  died  from  chagrin,  seeing 
that  his  whole  life  was  devoted  to  scientific  experiments  [The 
Quest  of  the  Absolute,  X>].  Mme.  Claes  counted  among  her 
relations  the  Evangelistas  of  Bordeaux  [A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, ad\. 

Claes,  Marguerite,  eldest  daughter  of  Balthazar  Claes 
and  Josephine  de  Temninck ;  born  in  1801  [The  Quest  of  the 
Absolute,  jy\.     See  Pierquin,  Madame. 

Claes,  Gabriel,  or  Gustave,  third  child  of  Balthazar 
Claes  and  Josephine  de  Temninck;  born  about  1802.  He 
was  a  student  at  Douai  College,  afterward  entering  the  Poly- 
technic, becoming  an  engineer  of  bridges  and  roads;  he  mar- 
ried, 1825,  Mademoiselle  Conyncks,  of  Cambrai  [The  Quest 
of  the  Absolute,  2>]. 

Claes,  Jean-Balthazar,  the  last-born  of  Balthazar  Claes 
and  Josephine  de  Temninck ;  born  in  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  J)]. 

Clagny,  J.-B.  de,  king's-counsel  at  Sancerre,  1836.  The 
passionate  admirer  of  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye,  he  was  sent  to 
Paris,  afterward  returning  from  that  place;  he  became,  in 
succession,  sub-attorney-general,  attorney-general,  and  finally 
attorney-general  of  the  Court  of  Cassation.  He  looked  after 
and  protected  that  wayward  woman,  and  consented  to  stand 
as  godfather  for  the  child  she  had  by  Lousteau  [Muse  of 
the  Department,  CC\ 

Clagny,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  was,  to 
follow  M.  Gravier's  words,  **ugly  enough  to  put  a  young  Cos- 
sack to  flight,"  in  1814;  Mme.  de  Clagny  attended  Mme.  de 
la  Baudraye's  receptions  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Claparon,  an  employe  in  the  office  of  the  minister  of  the 
interior,  under  the  Republic  and  the  Empire ;  a  friend  of 
Bridau  senior ;  after  his  death  he  continued  in  friendship  with 


114  COMPENDIUM 

Mme.  Bridau;  through  their  mother  he  was  devoted  to 
Philippe  and  Joseph.  Claparon  died  in  1820  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  J"\. 

Claparon,  Charles,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  about 
1790;  business  man  and  banker;*  at  one  time  a  drummer ; 
one  of  du  Tillet's  auxiliaries  in  his  operations  of  doubtful 
honesty.  He  was  invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar 
Birotteau  to  celebrate  his  nomination  to  the  Legion  of  Honor 
and  the  freedom  of  the  soil  of  France  from  the  foreign 
soldiery  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J — Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O].  In  1821,  at  the  Bourse,  Paris,  he  made  a  singular 
deal  with  the  cashier  Castanier,  who  transmitted  in  exchange 
for  his,  his  own  personality,  the  power  for  which  he  had  received 
from  an  Englishman,  John  Melmoth  [Melmoth  Recon- 
ciled, 6?].  Mixed  up  in  Nucingen's  third  failure,  which  made 
the  fortune  of  that  Alsacian  banker,  1826,  and  whose  *'man 
of  straw"  he  was  at  that  time  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 
A  partner  of  Cerizet's,  betrayed  by  him  in  the  matter  of  the 
sale  of  a  house  to  Thuillier,  absolutely  *'done  up,"  as  regarded 
Paris,  he  embarked  for  America  about  1840.  He  was  prob- 
ably condemned  as  an  absconding,  fraudulent  bankrupt  [A 
Man  of  Business,  I — The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Clapart,  an  employe  at  the  prefecture  of  the  Seine,  under 
the  Restoration,  at  a  salary  of  twelve  thousand  francs;  born 
about  1776.  He  married  a  widow,  about  1803,  Madame 
Husson,  aged  twenty-two  ;  he  was  at  that  time  an  employe  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance  at  a  salary  of  eighteen  hundred  francs 
and  had  hopes ;  but  his  incapacity  kept  him  on  the  secondary 
rungs  of  the  ladder.  At  the  fall  of  the  Empire,  he  lost  his 
situation  and  obtained  a  new  engagement  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Comte  de  Serizy.  Mme.  Husson  had  a  son  by 
her  first  husband,  who  was  Clapart's  b^te  noire.  The  house- 
hold occupied,  in  1822,  a  suite  of  rooms  at  two  hundred  and 

*  Rue  de  Provence,  which  at  that  time  ended  at  the  Rue  de  la  Chaussee- 
d'Antin. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  115 

fifty  francs  rental  at  No.  7  Rue  de  la  Cerisaie.  After  retiring 
from  the  bureau  he  was  often  visited  by  Poiret  senior.  Clapart 
was  killed  July  28,  1833,  <^"^  °^  ^"^^  vic'tims  of  Fieschi's 
infernal  machine  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Clapart,  Madame,  wife  of  the  above  ;  born  in  1780.  One 
of  the  "  Aspasias "  of  the  Directory,  she  was  famous  by 
reason  of  her  intimacy  with  one  of  the  '' Pentarques."  She 
married  the  contractor  Husson,  who  made  millions,  but  who 
was  suddenly  ruined  by  the  First  Consul  and  committed 
suicide  in  1802.  At  this  time  she  was  the  mistress  of  Moreau, 
the  steward  of  M.  de  Serizy ;  this  Moreau,  who  dearly  loved 
her,  wished  to  marry  her,  but  he  was  under  sentence  of  death, 
and  took  to  flight.  In  her  distress  she  married  Clapart,  an 
employe  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance.  Mme.  Clapart  had  one 
son  by  her  first  marriage,  whom  she  cherished,  but  whose  youth- 
ful escapades  caused  her  continual  torment.  Mme.  Clapart, 
under  the  first  Empire,  was  a  lady-in-waiting  to  Madame 
Mere — Loetitia  Bonaparte  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Clara,  Dona,  Spanish,  the  mother  of  Don  Fernand,  Due 
de  Soria,  and  Don  Felipe,  Baron  de  Macumer  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\. 

Clarimbault,  Marechal  de,  maternal  grandfather  of 
Mme.  de  Beauseant.  He  married  the  daughter  of  Chevalier 
de  Rastignac,  great-uncle  of  Eugene  de  Rastignac  [Father 
Goriot,  6r]. 

Claude,  a  cretin;  died  in  1829,  in  the  village  of  the  Dau- 
phine,  administered  to  and  metamorphosed  by  Dr.  Benassis 
[The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Claudine,  the  nickname  of  Mademoiselle  Chaffaroux, 
more  commonly  known  by  the  name  of  TuUia,  who  became 
Madame  du  Bruel. 

Clef-des-Cceurs,  La,  a  soldier  in  the  72d  demi-brigade, 
commanded  by  Hulot ;  killed  by  the  Chouans,  at  la  Vivetiere, 
about  the  end  of  1799  [The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Cleretti,   an  architect,  Paris,  was    the    fashion    in    1843, 


116  COMPENDIUM 

and  against  whom  Grindot  struggled  at  this  time  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\. 

Clergeot,  head  of  a  division  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance, 
1824-1825  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Clerget,  Basine,  a  laundress  at  Angouleme  under  the 
Restoration.  She  succeeded  Mme.  Prieur,  the  place  where 
Eve  Chardon  worked.  Basine  Clerget  kept  David  Sechard  in 
hiding  the  while  Kolb,  the  Alsacian,  David's  faithful  servant, 
was  pursued  by  the  Cointet  brothers  [Lost  Illusions,  3^]. 

Clotilde,  one  of  the  celebrities  of  the  opera  under  Louis 
XV.;  was  for  a  short  time  the  mistress  of  Sarrasine  the  sculp- 
tor [Sarrasine,  ds^  II.]. 

Clousier,  an  old  barrister  of  Limoges  ;  justice  of  the  peace 
at  Montegnac  since  1809.  He  was  friendly  with  Mme. 
Graslin  when  she  went  to  take  up  her  abode  in  that  commune 
about  1830.  He  was  a  man  of  integrity  and  calm  strength ; 
he  ended  by  living  the  life  of  the  ancient  contemplative  soli- 
taires [The  Country  Parson,  JP]. 

Cochegrue,  Jean,  a  Chouan,  who  died  of  wounds  received 
in  the  battle  at  la  Pelerine,  or  at  the  siege  of  Fougeres,  1799. 
Abbe  Gudin  said  a  mass  in  the  woods  in  honor  of  Jean  Coche- 
grue, Nicolas  Laferte,  Joseph  Brouet,  Francois  Parquoi,  and 
Sulpice  Coupiau,  all,  like  himself,  killed  by  the  Blues  [The 
Chouans,  J5]. 

Cochegrue,  Father,  a  farmer  and  rough  mason,  who 
died  in  the  time  of  the  Chauffeurs,  through  having  his  feet 
severely  burned  in  order  to  make  him  give  up  his  money  [The 
Country  Parson,  JP]. 

Cochet,  FRAN901SE,  Havre;  Modeste  Mignon's  maid  in 
1829.  She  received  the  answers  to  the  letters  addressed  by 
Modeste  to  Canalis.  She  had  also  served  Bettina-Caroline, 
Modeste's  eldest  sister,  with  equal  fidelity,  and  had  been 
taken  by  her  to  Paris  [Modeste  Mignon,  'K.\ 

Cochin,  Emile-Louis-Lucien-Emmanuel,  an  employe  in 
the   Bureau   of  Finance,   in  Clergeot's   division,   under   the 


COMEDIE  HVMAINE.  117 

Restoration.  He  had  a  brother  who  protected  him  in  the 
government.  Cochin  was  also  employed  at  this  time  as  a 
bookkeeper  in  the  drug  firm  of  Matifat's  ;  Colleville  discov- 
ered the  anagram  of  Cochin,  together  with  his  Christian  name, 
to  be  Cochenille.  Cochin  and  his  wife  enjoyed  the  Birotteaus' 
society  and  attended  the  famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer, 
December  17,  1818.  In  1840  Cochin  became  baron,  and 
was,  according  to  Anselme  Popinot,  the  oracle  of  the  Lom- 
bard and  Bourdon nais  quarters  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Les 
Employes,  cc — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t — The  Middle 
Classes,  6^]. 

Cochin,  Adolphe,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  an  employe  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance,  the  same  as  had  been  his  father  for  a 
great  many  years.  In  1826  his  parents  sought  for  him  the 
hand  of  Mademoiselle  Matifat  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The 
Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

Coeur-la-Virole,  at  the  Conciergerie,  in  1830,  the  death- 
watch  over  Theodore  Calvi,  who  was  sentenced  to  be  executed 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Z\ 

Coffinet,  janitor  in  1840  of  a  house  situated  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Dominique-d'Enfer,  Paris,  owned  by  Mile.  Thuillier. 
His  superior  utilized  his  help  on  the  "•  Echo  de  la  Bievre  "  at 
the  time  when  Louis-Jerome  Thuillier  became  the  publisher 
of  that  sheet  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Coffinet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding.  She  had 
charge  of  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade's  household  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\ 

Cognet,  a  tavernkeeper  at  Issoudun,  between  the  Rue  des 
Minimes  and  Place  Misere,  under  the  Restoration.  The  host 
of  the  *' Knights  of  Idlesse,"  headed  by  Maxence  Gilet ;  an 
old  groom,  born  about  1767  ;  a  squat,  little  man,  submissive 
to  his  wife ;  blind,  he  often  repeated  the  expression  that  he 
could  see  things  with  half-an-eye  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, tT\ 

Cognet,  Madame,  called  Mother   Cognette,  wife  of  the 


118  COMPENDIUM 

foregoing,  born  about  1783.  An  old  cook  in  a  good  house, 
chosen  on  account  of  her  culinary  skill,  a  "cordon  bleu,"  to 
be  the  Leonarde  of  the  order  of  which  Maxence  Gilet  was 
the  chief.  A  tall,  very  brown  woman,  with  an  intelligent, 
mocking  manner  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Cointet,  Boniface,  the  owner,  with  his  brother  Jean,  of  a 
prosperous  printing-house.  By  law  proceedings  he  ruined 
David  Sechard,  the  printer.  Boniface  Cointet,  the  eldest  of 
the  brothers,  was  usually  called  the  ''Big  Cointet";  he  was 
very  religious.  Having  a  fortune  of  many  millions,  he  became 
deputy,  peer  of  France,  and  minister  of  commerce  in  a  com- 
bination ministry  under  Louis-Philippe.  In  1842  he  married 
Mademoiselle  Popinot,  daughter  of  Anselme  Popinot  [Lost 
Illusions,  iV— The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\  May  28,  1839, 
he  presided  over  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  when  the  election 
of  Sallenauve  was  declared  valid  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  EJEJ]. 

Cointet,  Jean,  younger  brother  of  the  foregoing ;  called 
the  *'  Fat  Cointet " ;  the  practical  partner  in  the  printery,  his 
elder  brother  taking  the  ''business"  part.  Jean  Cointet 
passed  for  being  a  good-fellow  and  was  the  Liberal  of  the 
firm  [Lost  Illusions,  JV]. 

Colas,  Jacques,  a  consumptive  child  in  a  village  in  the 
environs  of  Grenoble ;  cared  for  by  Dr.  Benassis.  Endowed 
with  a  very  pure  voice,  his  passion  was  to  sing.  He  lived  with 
his  mother,  who  was  very  poor.  He  died  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
toward  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1829,  shortly  after  the  death 
of  the  doctor,  his  benefactor.  The  nephew  of  an  old  laborer 
named  Moreau  [The  Country  Doctor,  C]. 

CoUeville,  the  son  of  a  talented  musician,  formerly  the 
first  violin  at  the  opera,  under  Francoeur  and  Rebel ;  he  him- 
self being  first  clarionet  at  the  Opera-Comique,  at  the  same 
time  being  a  principal  clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  and, 
beside  all,  bookkeeper  for  a  merchant  during  the  hours  of 
seven  to  nine  in  the  morning.  A  great  maker  of  anagrams. 
He  was  appointed  sub-chief  under  Baudoyer  in  his  office  when 


comAdie  humaine.  lid 

that  person  became  chief  of  a  division  ;  six  months  later  he 
became  a  tax-collector  in  Paris.  In  1832  he  was  secretary  to 
the  mayor  of  the  twelfth  arrondissement  and  an  ofiicer  in  the 
Legion  of  Honor;  Colleville  then  lived  with  his  wife  and 
children  on  the  Rue  d'Enfer,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  des 
Deux-Eglises.*  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Thuillier 
[Les  Employes,  cc — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Colleville,  Flavie  Minoret,  Lady.  Born  in  1798;  wife 
of  the  preceding,  daughter  of  a  famous  dancer  and  possibly 
of  M.  du  Bourguier.  Married  for  love,  she  had,  from  181 6 
to  1826,  five  children,  who,  it  was  plain  to  be  seen,  were  each 
by  a  different  father : 

ist.  A  girl,  born  in  1815,  who  resembled  Colleville. 

2d.  A  son,  Charles,  destined  for  a  military  career;  born  at 
the  time  of  his  mother's  intimacy  with  Charles  de  Gondre- 
ville,  a  sub-lieutenant  in  the  Saint-Chamans  Dragoons. 

3d.  A  son,  Francois,  intended  for  commercial  pursuits; 
born  during  Madame  Colleville's  intimacy  with  Frangois 
Keller,  the  banker. 

4th.  A  daughter,  Celeste,  born  in  1821,  of  whom  Thuillier, 
Colleville's  most  intimate  friend,  was  the  godfather  and — 
father  in  pariibus. 

5th.  A  son,  Theodore,  ''the  gift  of  God,"  or  Anatole, 
gotten  in  a  time  of  religious  fervor.  Madame  Colleville  was  a 
piquant  Parisian,  amiable  and  pretty,  as  well  as  clever  and. 
spirituelle — she  made  her  husband  very  happy:  she  longed 
for  his  advancement.  In  the  interest  of  her  ambition  she  had 
at  one  time,  '*out  of  kindness,"  been  good  to  the  secretary- 
general,  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx.  Every  Wednesday  she  ''  re- 
ceived "  artists  and  distinguished  men  of  every  kind  [Les 
Employes,  cc — Cousin  Betty,  w — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Colleville,  Celeste,  fourth  child  of  M.  and  Mme.  Colle- 
ville.    See  Phellion,  Madame  Felix. 

*  The  Rue  d'Enfer  is  at  the  present  time  the  Rue  Denfert-Rochereau, 
and  the  Rue  des  Deux-Eglises  is  the  Rue  de  I'Abbe  de  Epee. 


120  COMPENDIUM 

Colliau,  during  Lucien  de  Rubempre's  first  sojourn  in 
Paris,  furnished  the  lover  of  Coralie  with  his  underwear,  hab- 
erdashery, and  toilet  articles  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M.\ 

Collin,  Jacques;  born  in  1799.  Brought  up  by  Oratorian 
fathers,  he  pursued  his  studies  as  far  as  rhetoric ;  he  was  then 
placed  by  his  aunt,  Jacqueline  Collin,  in  a  banking-house; 
but,  being  accused  of  a  crime,  probably  committed  by  Fran- 
chessini,  he  took  flight.  He  was  shortly  after  this  sent  to  the 
hulks,  where  he  remained  from  iSioto  1815,  when  he  escaped 
and  went  to  Paris,  where  he  stayed,  under  the  name  of  Vau- 
trin,  at  Mme.  Vauquer's  boarding-house;  he  there  knew  Ras- 
tignac,  who  was  then  a  youth ;  he  interested  himself  in  him, 
and  gave  him  the  advice  to  marry  Victorine  Taillefer,  for 
whom  he  had  procured  a  wealthy  marriage-portion  when  her 
brother  was  killed  in  a  duel  by  Franchessini — brought  about 
by  him.  Arrested  in  1819  by  Bibi-Lupin,  chief  of  the  detec- 
tive police,  he  was  reconveyed  to  the  hulks,  whence  he  escaped 
anew  in  1820,  reappearing  in  Paris  under  the  name  of  Carlos 
Herrera,  a  honorary  canon  of  the  chapter  of  Toledo.  He 
saved  Lucien  de  Rubempre  from  suicide,  and  took  that  young 
poet's  life  under  his  own  direction ;  deemed  guilty  with  him 
of  having  assassinated  Esther  Gobseck,  who  had  really  poi- 
soned herself,  Jacques  Collin  was  acquitted  of  the  charge,  and 
became,  1830,  chief  of  the  detective  police  under  the  name  of 
Saint-Esteve.  He  was  in  this  position  in  1845.  With  his 
twelve  thousand  francs  from  his  appointments  and  three  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  he  inherited  from  Lucien  de  Rubempre, 
he  manufactured  a  green  leather  at  Gentilly ;  Jacques  Collin 
v/as  very  wealthy  [Father  Goriot,  6r — A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  J/ — The  Harlot's  Progress,  IT,  Z — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  Z>X>].  Beside  the  pseudonym  of  Monsieur 
Jules,  under  which  he  was  known  to  Catherine  Goussard,  he 
took  the  English  name  of  William  Barker,  a  creditor  of 
Georges  d'Estourny.     Under  that  name  he  trapped  the  wily 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  121 

Cerizet  and  made  him  endorse  the  acceptances  of  that  man  of 
affairs.     He  was  also  called  "  Trompe-la-Mort." 

Collin,  Jacqueline,  aimt  of  Jacques  Collin,  who  had  been 
raised  by  her;  born  in  Java.  In  her  youth  she  had  been 
Marat's  mistress ;  afterward  was  the  same  to  Duvignon  the 
chemist,  condemned  to  death,  in  1790,  for  counterfeiting; 
while  intimate  with  him  she  acquired  her  dangerous  toxico- 
logical  knowledge.  A  dealer  in  second-hand  clothing  from 
1800  to  1805,  she  served  two  years  in  prison — 1806  to  1808 — 
for  having  sold  minor  girls  into  debauchery.  From  1824  to 
1830  Mile.  Collin  was  of  great  assistance  in  Jacques'  adven- 
turous and  lawless  life — then  called  Vautrin.  She  excelled  in 
making  disguises.  In  1839  she  conducted  a  matrimonial  bu- 
reau, on  the  Rue  de  Provence,  under  the  name  of  Madame 
Saint-Esteve.  She  often  assumed  the  name  of  Mme.  Nour- 
risson,  her  friend,  who,  under  Louis-Philippe,  made  a  pre- 
tense of  being  in  trade,  but  who  really  made  loans  on  goods, 
Rue  Neuve-Saint-Marc*  She  was  in  communication  with 
Victorin  Hulot,  and  on  whose  account  she  brought  about  the 
death  of  Mme.  Marneffe,  his  father's  mistress,  then  Crevel's  wife. 
Under  the  name  of  Asia,  Jacqueline  Collin  made  an  excellent 
cook  to  Esther  Gobseck,  whom  she,  by  Vautrin's  instructions, 
kept  under  surveillance  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T,  Z — Cousin 
Betty,  w — The  Unconscious  Mummers,  li\. 

Collinet,  a  renowned  musician,  director  of  the  orchestra 
at  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  Sunday,  Decem- 
ber 17,  1818  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Collinet,  a  grocer  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  under  Louis-Philippe, 
an  elector  belonging  to  the  Liberal  party  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Colonel  Giguet  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDJ)]. 

Collinet,  Francois-Joseph,  a  wholesale  trader  of  Nantes. 
He  failed  in  181 4  through  the  great  political  changes,  leaving 
for  America  in  1814;  he  returned  in  1824,  quite  wealthy,  and 

*  It  was  shortened  to  Rue  Saint-Marc.  The  Rue  Neuve-Saint-Marc 
ran  from  the  Rue  Richelieu  to  Place  BoTeldieu. 


'^^^•'^-^'^-^^^^^^  \fH^  ht^-'P'^^tiU^^I^^ 


122  COMPENDIUM 

was  rehabilitated.  Through  him  M.  and  Mme.  Lorrain,  little 
retailers,  of  Pen  Hoel,  had  lost  eighty  thousand  francs.  (They 
were  Major  Lorrain's  father  and  mother.)  On  his  return  to 
France  he  conveyed  to  Madame  Lorrain,  then  a  widow,  and 
almost  a  septuagenarian,  the  whole  amount  of  the  capital  and 
interest  [Pierrette,  t]. 

Colonna,  an  old  Italian  living  at  Genoa,  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  He  raised  Luigi  Porta,  under  the  name  of 
Colonna,  and  as  his  son ;  since  the  age  of  six  years  and  until 
he  entered  the  army  he  had  borne  this  name  [The  Vendetta,  i]. 

Coloquinte,  the  nickname  of  a  pensioner;  office  mes- 
senger on  Finot's  newspaper,  1820.  He  made  the  campaign 
in  Egypt,  and  lost  an  arm  at  the  battle  of  Montmirail  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M.\ 

Colorat,  Jerome,  a  keeper  on  Mme.  Graslin's  estates  at 
Montegnac  ;  born  at  Limoges.  An  old  soldier  of  the  Empire, 
an  ex-quartermaster  in  the  Royal  Guards ;  he  had  also  been 
M.  de  Navarreins'  keeper,  and  had  been  of  service  to  Mme. 
Graslin  [The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Combabus,  the  nickname  given  by  the  artists  and  men  of 
letters  to  Montez  de  Montejanos,  who,  according  to  RoUin's 
*' Ancient  History,"  watched  over  the  wife  of  a  king  of 
Abyssinia,  Persia,  Bactriana,  and  Mesopotamia  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Constance,  Madame  de  Restaud's  chambermaid  in  1819. 
By  Constance's  means  Father  Goriot  knew  all  that  passed  in 
the  home  of  his  eldest  daughter.  Constance  was  sometimes 
called  Victoire ;  she  took  money  to  her  mistress  from  Goriot 
when  she  needed  it  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Constant  de  Rebecque,  Benjamin,  born  at  Lausanne 
in  1767;  died  at  Paris,  December  8,  1830.  Toward  the  end 
of  1 82 1  Benjamin  Constant  is  found  in  the  store  of  the  pub- 
lisher and  bookseller,  Dauriat,  Palais-Royal,*  when  Lucien  de 
*  In  the  "  Wooden  Galleries." 


comAdie  nUMAI^E.  123 

Rubempre  entered  with  his  noble  head  and   spiritud  eyes 
[A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  il[f  ]. 

Constant,  Napoleon's  valet,  who  served  his  master's 
dinner  in  an  old  hut  in  Prussia,  October  13,  1806,  the  day- 
previous  to  the  battle  of  Jena,  at  the  time  when  Mile,  de 
Cinq-Cygne  went  from  France  to  see  the  Emperor,  and 
where  she  was  introduced  to  him  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Constantin,  a  Pole.  Comte  and  Comtesse  Laginski's 
coachman,  Paris,  1836 ;  Thaddee  Pas  was  the  major-domo  of 
their  house  and  could  always  count  on  him  [The  Imaginary 
Mistress,  li\. 

Contenson.  See  Tours-Minieres,  Bernard-Polydor  Bry- 
ond,  des. 

Conti,  Gennaro,  a  musical  composer;  of  Neapolitan 
origin,  but  born  at  Marseilles.  Mademoiselle  des  Touches* 
(Camille  Maupin)  lover  in  1821-22;  afterward  he  had  as 
mistress  the  Marquise  de  Rochefide  [Lost  Illusions,  ^—Bea- 
trix, ^].  He  was  a  most  accomplished  singer.  In  1839,  at 
the  home  of  Rastignac,  minister  for  public  works,  he  sang 
the  celebrated  aria  "  Pria  che  spunti  I'aurora";  then,  with 
Luigia,  a  duet  from  '*  Semiramide,"  the  "Bella  imago" 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>J)]. 

Conyncks,  a  family  of  Bruges,  who  had  a  maternal  ascend- 
ency over  Marguerite  Claes ;  this  young  girl,  in  1812,  when 
sixteen  years  of  age,  was  the  living  image  of  a  Conyncks, 
her  grandfather,  whose  portrait  hung  in  the  home  of  Balthazar 
Claes.  A  Conyncks,  also  of  Bruges,  but  for  a  long  time 
located  at  Cambrais,  great-uncle  to  Balthazar  Claes'  children, 
was  appointed  their  guardian-surrogate  after  the  death  of 
Mme.  Claes.  He  had  a  daughter  who  married  Gabriel  Claes 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  1>]. 

Coquart,  copying-clerk  to  Judge  Camusot  de  Marville, 
Paris,  1830.  Coquart  had  not  seen  twenty-two  summers  at 
this  time  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T^  Z\ 

Coquelin,  M.  and  Madame,  hardware  dealers,  successors 


124  COMPENDIUM 

to  Claude-Joseph  Pillerault  in  a  warehouse  on  the  Qua!  de 
la  Ferraille,*  at  the  **  Golden  Bell."  He  was  invited  to 
the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December  17,  1818. 
Before  receiving  the  formal  invitation,  Mme.  Coquelin  or- 
dered a  magnificent  dress  for  that  occasion  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O]. 

Coquet,  chief  of  the  bureau  of  the  minister  of  war,  Le- 
brun's  division,  in  1838  ;  Marneffe  succeeded  him.  Coquet 
was  in  the  administration  since  1809,  and  rendered  excellent 
service.  He  was  married,  and  his  wife  was  still  living  at  the 
time  he  retired  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Coralie,  Mademoiselle,  an  actress  at  the  Panorama-Dra- 
raatique  and  the  Gymnase  theatres,  Paris,  under  Louis  XVIII. 
Born  in  1803,  in  the  Catholic  faith,  she  was  nevertheless  of 
an  Israelitish  type  in  all  its  purity.  She  died  August,  1822. 
Sold,  when  fifteen,  to  young  Henri  de  Marsay,  of  whom  she 
had  a  great  horror,  and  being  deserted  by  him,  she  was  kept 
by  Camusot,  who  did  not  bother  her.  At  the  first  sight  of 
Lucien  de  Rubempre  she  fell  in  love  with  him,  and  was  de- 
voted to  him  until  she  ceased  to  breathe.  The  acme  of  her 
splendor  and  her  decadence  dated  from  this  love.  An  origi- 
nal skit  by  young  Chardon  made  the  success  of  "  The  Alcade 
in  a  Fix,"  at  the  Marais,  and  was  invaluable  to  Coralie,  one 
of  the  principal  impersonators  of  the  piece,  gaining  her  an 
engagement  at  the  Boulevard  Bonne-Nouvelle  at  a  salary  of 
twelve  thousand  francs ;  she  was  there  the  victim  of  a  cabal  of 
actors,  in  spite  of  the  protection  of  Camille  Maupin.  At  this 
time  she  was  living  on  the  Rue  de  Vendome  ;■!"  then  on  the 
Rue  de  la  Lune,  in  an  unpretentious  lodging,  where  she  died, 
being  cared  for  by  her  cousin  Berenice.  She  had  sold  her 
furniture  to  Cardot  senior  when  she  left  the  suite  of  rooms  on 
the  Rue  de  Vendome,  and,  after  this  change  in  her  location, 
her  old  rooms  were  occupied  by  Florentine.     Coralie  was  the 

*  Now  the  Quai  de  la  M6gissere. 
\  Now  the  Rue  B^ranger. 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  125 

rival  of  Mme.  Perrin,  the  creator  of  the  part  of  '*Fanchon  la 
Vielleuse,"  and  of  Mile.  Fleuriet,  creator  of  ''Michel  et 
Christine,"*  and  whom  she  much  resembled.  Coralie's 
funeral  service  was  held  at  noon  in  the  little  church  of  Notre- 
Dame  de  Bonne-Nouvelle,  in  the  presence  of  the  Cenacle — 
less  Michel  Chrestien — Berenice,  Mile,  des  Touches,  and  two 
dancers  from  the  Gymnase,  of  the  actress*  friends  and  Camu- 
sot,  who  promised  to  purchase  a  freehold  lot  at  Pere-Lachaise 
for  the  interment  of  her  body  [A  Start  in  Life,  5 — A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  JJT— A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, J'\ 

Corbigny,  De,  prefect  at  Loir-et-Cher,  181 1.  A  friend 
of  Mme.  de  Stael,  who  was  charged  to  place  Louis  Lambert 
at  Vendome  College,  at  her  expense ;  he  probably  died  in 
181 2  [Louis  Lambert,  tf], 

Corbinet,  a  notary  at  Soulanges,  Bourgogne,  1823,  and 
formerly  an  old  patron  of  Sibilet's.  The  Gravelots,  lumber 
merchants,  were  clients  of  his.  Instructed  by  Comte  de 
Montcornet  to  sell  his  property,  he  explained  the  difficulty 
of  so  doing.  He  is  once  designated  by  the  name  of  Corbi- 
neau  [The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Corbinet,  judge  of  the  court  at  Ville-aux-Fayes,  in  1823; 
son  of  the  notary  Corbinet.  He  belonged,  body  and  soul,  to 
the  all-powerful  mayor  of  that  town  [The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Corbinet,  an  old  captain,  manager  of  the  post-office  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  1823;  brother  of  the  notary  Corbinet;  he 
was  affianced  to  Sibilet's  youngest  daughter,  then  aged  six- 
teen [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Corde-a-Puits,  the  nickname  of  a  "  rapin  "  of  Chaudet's 
study,  under  the  Empire  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

*  It  was  not  Madame  Perrin,  a  rival  of  Corahe's,  who  created  "  Fanchon 
la  Vielleuse,"  a  vaudeville  by  Bouilly  and  Pain,  but  good  Madame  Bel- 
mont. Dupin,  one  of  the  authors  of  "  Michel  and  Christine,"  is  dead.  He 
died  at  the  same  lime  as  the  last  sheet  of  this  Compendium  was  on  the 
press. 


126  COMPENDIUM 


Corentin,  born  at  Vendome  in  ^^^ffi',  an  agent  of  the 
police,  choke-full  of  genius ;  a  pupil  of  Peyrade's,  the  same 
as  Louis  David  was  of  Vien.  He  was  in  Fouche's  favor  and 
probably  his  natural  son;  in  1799  he  accompanied  Mile,  de 
Verneuil,  sent  to  seduce  and  deliver  up  Alphonse  de  Mon- 
tauran,  the  young  Breton  chief,  in  that  uprising  against  the 
Republic.  For  two  years  Corentin  was  attached  to  that 
strange  girl,  like  a  serpent  to  a  tree  [The  Chouans,  jB].  In 
1803,  commissioned,  with  his  master,  Peyrade,  to  accomplish 
a  difficult  task  in  the  department  of  I'Aube,  he  got  a  fair  tit- 
for-tat  from  Mile,  de  Cinq-Cygne ;  he  was  surprised  by  her  at 
the  moment  when  he  was  forcing  a  cabinet ;  he  received  a 
sharp  blow  from  her  riding-whip ;  for  this  he  vowed  a  cruel 
revenge  and  implicated  the  Simeuses  and  Hauteserres,  in  spite 
of  their  innocence,  in  the  abduction  of  Senator  Malin. 
About  the  same  time  he  satisfactorily  performed  a  mission  to 
Berlin,  for  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  Talleyrand,  who 
felicitated  him  upon  it  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\  From 
1824  to  1830,  Corentin  had  the  terrible  Jacques  Collin,  called 
Vautrin,  as  an  adversary,  and  caused  tlie  fatal  miscarriage  of 
his  plans  in  favor  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  It  was  Coren- 
tin who  made  impossible  the  marriage  of  that  ambitious  youth 
with  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu,  and  caused,  as  a  consequence,  the 
death  of  that  **  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris."  About 
May,  1830,  he  vegetated  at  Passy,  Rue  des  Vignes  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  !F].  Under  Charles  X.,  Corentin  was 
chief  of  the  political  police  opposed  to  the  Chateau  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  z\.  For  more  than  thirty  years  he  lived  on  the 
Rue  Honore-Chevalier  under  the  name  of  M.  du  Portail. 
Since  the  death  of  his  friend  Peyrade,  he  had  housed  the 
daughter  of  the  old  detective,  Lydie ;  about  1840  she  was' 
espoused  to  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  a  nephew  of  Peyrade's, 
after  being  beaten  in  his  audacious  projects  in  trying  to  obtain 
the  hand  of  Celeste  Colleville,  who  had  an  enormous  portion. 
Corentin   (M.    du  Portail)  initiated  his  adopted  son-in-law 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  127 

into  the  high  policy  of  his  secret  occupation  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Coret,  AuGUSTiN,  a  petty  clerk  in  Bordin's,  the  attorney, 
office,  1806  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Cormon,  Rose-Marie- Vici'oire,  Mademoiselle.  See 
Bousquier,  Madame  du. 

Cornevin,  an  old  Percheron,  foster-father  of  Olympe 
Michaud,  7iee  Charel.  He  had  been  a  Chouan  in  1794  and 
1799.  In  1823  he  served  Michaud  as  a  domestic  in  his  house- 
hold [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Cornoiller,  Antoine,  a  game-keeper  at  Saumur ;  married 
the  great  Manon,  aged  fifty-nine,  after  the  death  of  Grandet, 
about  1827;  he  became  keeper-steward  of  the  estates  and 
property  of  Eugenie  Grandet  [Eugenie  Grandet,  JEl^ 

Cornoiller,  Madame.     See  Nanon. 

Corret,  a  partner  in  the  banking  firm  founded  by  Mme. 
des  Grassins,  at  Saumur,  in  the  absence  of  M.  des  Grassins, 
who  had  gone  to  Paris,  and  of  which  he  did  not  know  until 
his  return  [Eugenie  Grandet,  ^]. 

Cottereau,  a  celebrated  smuggler,  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  Breton  insurrection.  In  1799,  at  la  Vivetiere,  during  a 
very  violent  altercation,  he  threatened  the  Marquis  de  Mon- 
tauran,  who  had  made  submission  to  the  First  Consul,  without 
receiving  any  advantages  as  a  recompense  for  seven  years  of 
devotion  to  the*' good  cause."  *'Mymen  and  myself,  we 
are  devilishly  importunate  creditors,"  said  he.  slapping  his 
stomach.  One  of  the  three  brothers  of  Jean  Cottereau, 
whose  nickname  of  *' Chouan"  was  taken  by  all  the  insur- 
gents of  the  West  against  the  Republic  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Cottin,  Marechal,  Prince  de  Wissembourg,  Due  d'Or- 
FANO,  an  old  soldier  of  the  Republic  and  the  Empire;  min- 
ister of  war,  1841 ;  born  in  1771.  A  comrade-in-arms  of 
Marechal  Hulot,  and  his  friend,  he  was  compelled  to  cause 
him  chagrin  by  taking  notice  of  the  malfeasance  of  the  con- 
tractor Hulot  d'Ervy.     Marechal  Cottin,  with  Nucingen,  was 


128  COMPENDIUM 

the  witness  for  Hortense  Hulot  when  she  married  Wenceslas 
Steinbock  [Cousin  Betty,  ti;]. 

Cottin,  Francine,  a  Breton,  of  (probably)  Fourgeres ; 
born  about  1773.  Maid  and  confidant  of  Mile,  de  Verneuil, 
who  had  been  brought  up  by  Francine's  parents ;  a  playmate 
in  childhood  of  Marche-a-Terre,  she  managed,  by  exerting 
her  influence  with  the  Chouan,  to  save  the  life  of  her  mistress, 
at  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Blues  at  la  Vivetiere,  in 
1799  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Cottin,  an  old  man  ;  servant  of  Madame  de  Dey,  at  Caren- 
tan,  Manche,  1793  [The  Conscript,  6]. 

Cottin,  Brigitte,  Madame  de  Dey's  housekeeper;  married 
to  Cottin,  a  servant  in  the  same  house.  Both  possessed  their 
mistress'  full  confidence  and  were  devoted  to  her  [The  Con- 
script, &]. 

Coudrai,  Du,  the  registrar  of  mortgages  at  Alengon,  under 
Louis  XVIII.  Received  by  Mile.  Cormon  and  afterward  by 
M.  du  Bousquier,  when  he  became  the  husband  of  **  the  old 
maid."  One  of  the  most  amiable  men  of  the  town;  there 
were  but  two  things  against  him :  he  had  married  an  old 
woman  for  her  money,  in  the  first  place ;  and,  secondly,  it 
was  his  habit  to  make  outrageous  puns,  at  which  he  was  the 
first  to  laugh.  He  lost  his  place  by  voting  on  the  wrong  side 
[Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  AA']. 

Coupiau,  conductor  for  the  carrier  from  Mayenne  to  Four- 
gdres  in  1799.  In  the  struggle  between  the  Blues  and  the 
Chouans  he  took  no  part ;  he  looked  to  turn  everything  to  his 
own  advantage ;  he  was  allowed  to  steal,  indeed  without  any 
resistance  from  the  *•' Brigands,"  the  money  in  the  State 
strong  boxes.  Coupiau  was  surnamed  Mene-a-Bien  by  the 
Chouan  Marche-a-Terre  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Coupiau,  SuLPiCE,  a  Chouan,  probably  a  relation  of  the 
foregoing.  Killed,  in  1799,  either  at  the  battle  at  la  Pelerine 
or  at  the  siege  of  Fougdres.  See  Jean  Cochegrue  [The  Cho- 
uans, jB]. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  129 

Courand,  Jenny,  an  artificial  flower-maker,  the  mistress 
of  Felix  Gaudissart,  1831 ;  she  then  lived  in  Paris,  Rue  d'Ar- 
tois,  which  became  the  Rue  Laffitte  [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o\. 

Courceuil,  Felix,  Alen^on,  an  old  surgeon  in  the  armies 
of  the  Vendee  rebels;  in  1809  he  furnished  arms  to  the 
'*  Brigands."  Implicated  in  that  affair  called  the  *'  Chauffeurs 
de  Mortagne,"  and  for  contumacy  was  condemned  to  death 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Cournant,  a  notary  of  Provins,  1827;  competitor  to  the 
notary  AufTray ;  of  the  Opposition  ;  he  possessed  one  of  the 
rarest  libraries  in  that  little  town  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Courtecuisse,  game-keeper  on  the  Aigues  estate,  Bour- 
gogne,  under  the  Empire  and  the  Restoration,  until  1823. 
Born  about  1777,  he  had  at  one  time  been  in  the  employ  of 
Mile.  Laguerre ;  he  was  dismissed  by  General  de  Montcornet 
for  his  negligence,  and  was  replaced  by  three  devoted  and 
vigilant  keepers.  Courtecuisse  was  a  Utile  man,  with  a  face 
like  the  full  moon,  which  made  one  laugh  to  see  it.  He 
claimed,  when  he  quit,  the  sum  of  eleven  hundred  francs, 
which  he  said  were  due  him,  but  which  his  master  refused 
with  a  righteous  indignation  ;  to  avoid  any  scandal,  this  was 
paid,  to  obviate  any  unjust  trial.  When  dispossessed  of  his 
place,  he  bought  of  Rigou,  for  two  thousand  francs,  the  little 
domain  of  la  Bachelerie,  fenced  inside  the  Aigues  estate ;  and 
was  tired  out,  without  making  any  profit,  in  the  working  of 
his  land.  Courtecuisse  had  a  very  pretty  daughter,  aged 
eighteen,  in  1823,  who  was  at  that  time  in  the  service  of  Mme. 
Mariotte,  at  Auxerre.  People  gave  him  the  nickname  of 
*'Courtebotte,"  or  'Mittle  man"  [The  Peasantry,  M\ 

Courtecuisse,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding;  she 
trembled  before  the  usurer  Gregoire  Rigou,  mayor  of  Blangy, 
Bourgogne  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Courtet,  stockinger  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  1839  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  JDJ)]. 

Courtevilles,  The,   a  notable  family  of  Douai,    one   of 
9 


130  COMPENDIUM 

whom,  Maltre  Pierquin  the  notary,  once  wished  to  become 
the  husband  of  Felicite  Claes ;  he  boasted  of  attracting  them 
to  his  home,  also  the  Magalhens  and  the  Savarons  de  Savarus 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  2>]. 

Courteville,  Madame  de,  cousin  of  Comte  Octave  de 
Bauvan  on  the  maternal  side ;  the  widow  of  a  judge  in  the 
tribunal  of  the  Seine ;  she  had  a  daughter  of  great  beauty, 
Amelie,  whom  the  comte  wished  to  marry  to  Maurice  de 
I'Hostal,  his  secretary  [Honorine,  A^]. 

Courtois,  a  miller  at  Marsac,  near  Angouleme,  under  the 
Restoration.  In  182 1  people  said  that  he  would  like  to  have 
married  the  widow  of  a  miller,  aged  thirty-six,  his  employer ; 
this  woman  had  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  property. 
David  Sechard  was  advised  by  his  father  to  ask  the  hand  of 
this  rich  widow.  At  the  end  of  1822,  Courtois,  then  married, 
received  Lucien  de  Rubempre  on  his  return  from  Paris,  when 
he  was  nearly  dead  [Lost  Illusions,  _^]. 

Courtois,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  showed 
tender  care  and  pity  for  Lucien  de  Rubempre  on  his  return 
[Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Coussard,  Laurent.     See  Goussard,  Laurent. 

Coutelier,  a  creditor  of  Maxime  de  Trailles.  This  note 
Coutelier  bought  for  five  hundred  francs  through  the 
Claparon-Cerizet  Company,  mounted  up  to  three  thousand 
two  hundred  francs,  sixty-five  centimes,  capital,  interest,  and 
costs ;  it  was  recovered  by  Cerizet  by  means  of  a  stratagem 
worthy  of  Scapin  [A  Man  of  Business,  V\. 

Couture,  a  sort  of  financier-journalist  of  an  equivocal 
reputation;  born  about  1797.  One  of  Mme.  Schontz's  first 
friends;  she  alone  remained  faithful  to  him  when  he  was 
ruined  by  the  downfall  of  the  ministry  of  March  i,  1840. 
Couture  could  always  find  refuge  at  the  courtesan's  house,  and 
she,  perhaps,  would  have  liked  him  as  her  husband,  but  he 
introduced  to  her  Fabien  du  Ronceret  and  **the  lorette " 
married  him.     In   1836,  with  Finot  and  Blondet,  he  was  in 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  181 

the  private  dining-room  of  a  celebrated  restaurant,  at  the 
*' delicate  revel  of  gluttony,"  where  was  recounted  by  Jean- 
Jacques  Bixiou  the  origin  of  Nucingen's  fortune.  At  the 
time  of  the  passing  of  his  opulence  Couture  kept  Jenny 
Cadine  in  most  brilliant  style ;  at  that  time  he  was  noted  for 
his  waiscoats.  Without  kindred  ;  he  knew  the  widow  Couture 
[Beatrix,  JP — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  i\.  The  financier  had 
brought  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  Cerizet,  for  having  caught 
on  to  the  affair  of  the  buying  of  a  property  situated  near  the 
Madeleine ;  the  matter  in  which  Jerome  Thuillier  was  mixed 
up  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Couture,  an  attorney  who  worked  with  Fraisier  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Couture,  Madame,  widow  of  an  army  commissary  in  the 
French  Republic ;  a  relation  and  protector  of  Mile.  Victorine 
Taillefer,  with  whom  she  lived,  1819,  at  Vauquer's  boarding- 
house  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Couturier,  Abbe,  curate  at  St.  Leonard's  church,  Alen- 
gon,  under  Louis  XVIIL  Director  of  the  conscience  of 
Mile.  Cormon  ;  he  remained  her  confessor  after  her  marriage 
to  du  Bousquier  and  urged  her  on  in  the  way  of  excessive 
spiritual  mortifications  [Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  AA\. 

Cremiere,  a  tax-collector  at  Nemours,  under  the  Restora- 
tion. A  nephew  by  marriage  of  Doctor  Minoret,  who  had 
procured  him  the  position  and  gave  his  security;  one  of  the 
three  collateral  heirs  of  the  old  physician ;  the  two  others 
being  Minoret-Levrault,  post-horse  master ;  and  the  other  a 
clerk  to  the  justice  of  the  peace.  In  the  strange  radiations  of 
these  four  middle-class  families  of  GStinais — the  Minorets, 
Massins,  Levraults,  and  Cremieres — the  tax-collector  be- 
longed to  the  Cremiere-Cremiere  branch.  He  had  a  number 
of  children,  among  them  one  daughter  named  Angelique. 
Became  municipal  councilor  after  the  Revolution  of  July, 
1830  [Ursule  Mirouet,  jBT]. 

Cremiere,  Madame,  nee  Massin-Massin,  wife  of  the  tax- 


132  t  COMPENDIUM 

collector  Cremidre,  niece  of  Dr.  Minoret;  that  is  to  say,  the 
daughter  of  a  sister  of  the  old  physician.  A  fat  woman,  with 
a  doubtful  blonde  complexion  and  a  freckled  face,  who 
passed  for  being  educated  because  she  read  romances  and 
whose  comical  lapsus  Imguce  were  wickedly  carried  about  by 
Goupil,  the  clerk  to  the  notary,  under  the  title  of  "  Capsulin- 
guettes  "  ;  in  fact,  Mme.  Cremiere  translated  these  two  words 
as  being  Latin  [Ursule  Mirouet,  S~\. 

Cremiere-Dionis,  always  called  Dionis.  See  the  last 
name. 

Crevel,  Celestin;  born  between  1786  and  1788;  clerk  to 
Cesar  Birotteau  the  perfumer ;  then  second  clerk,  and  became 
the  first  assistant  when  Popinot  left  the  house  for  his  own 
establishment.  In  1819,  on  the  failure  of  his  employer,  he 
bought  the  **  Queen  of  Roses"  for  five  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred francs,  and  became  rich.  Under  the  reign  of  Louis- 
Philippe  he  lived  on  his  income.  A  captain,  then  major  in 
the  National  Guard,  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and 
finally  mayor  of  an  arrondissement  in  Paris,  he  was  a  very 
great  personage.  He  married  the  daughter  of  a  farmer  of  la 
Brie  ;  became  a  widower  in  1833,  giving  himself  up  to  a  life  of 
pleasure ;  keeping  Jos6pha,  who  was  carried  off  from  him  by 
his  friend  Baron  Hulot ;  he  then  tried  to  seduce  Madame 
Hulot  for  revenge,  and  **  protected  "  Heloise  Brisetout.  Fol- 
lowing this  he  fSU  in  love  with  Mme.  Marneffe ;  he  had  her 
for  mistress,  and  afterward  married  her,  when  she  became  a 
widow,  in  1843.  -^^  May  of  the  same  year,  Crevel  and  his 
wife  died  of  a  horrible  disease,  which  had  been  communicated 
to  Valerie  by  a  negro  belonging  to  Montez,  the  Brazilian. 
Crevel  lived,  in  1838,  on  the  Rue  des  Saussaies;  at  this  time 
he  also  possessed  a  "  little  house  "  on  the  Rue  du  Dauphin,* 
where  he  had  arranged  an  apartment  in  which  to  secretly  re- 
ceive Mme.  Marneffe ;  he  sold  that  little  place  to  Maxime  de 

*  Part  of  the  actual  Rue  Saint-Roch,  running  from  the  Rue  de  RivoU 
to  the  Rue  St.  Honor6. 


COMj&DIE  HUMAINE.  133 

Trailles.  Crevel  owned  the  following :  a  mansion  on  the  Rue 
Barbet  de  Jouy;  the  estate  of  Presles,  bought  from  Mme.  de 
Serizy  at  a  cost  of  three  million  francs.  He  was  then  nomi- 
nated as  a  member  of  the  council-general  of  the  Seine-et-Oise. 
He  had  by  his  first  marriage  an  only  daughter,  Celestine, 
who  married  Victorin  Hulot  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Cousin 
Betty,  w\  In  1844-45  Crevel  owned  a  share  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  theatre  of  which  Gaudissart  was  the  manager 
[Cousin  Pons,  0C\.  The  star  Crevel  drew  in  his  orbit  his 
satellite,  Phileas  Beauvisage  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  i)X)]. 

Crevel,  Celestine,  the  issue  of  the  foregoing  by  his  first 
marriage.     See  Hulot,  Madame  Victorin. 

Crevel,  Madame  Celestin,  nee  Valerie  Fortin,  181 5, 
the  natural  daughter  of  Comte  de  Montcornet,  marechal  of 
France ;  married  for  the  first  time  to  Marneffe,  an  employ^ 
in  the  War  Bureau,  where  she  fell,  by  his  consent,  to  his  chief, 
and  afterward  similarly  to  Celestin  Crevel.  By  Marneffe  she 
had  a  legitimate  son,  a  meagre,  wretched  boy,  named  Stan- 
islas. The  intimate  friend  of  Lisbeth  Fischer,  who  employed 
the  irresistible  charms  of  Valerie  to  satisfy  her  hate  for  her 
rich  relatives ;  Mme.  Marneffe  at  this  time  belonged  to  Mar- 
neffe, Montez  the  Brazilian,  Steinbock  the  Pole,  Celestin 
Crevel,  and  Baron  Hulot ;  to  each  of  these  men  she  said  that 
he  was  the  father  of  her  unborn  child,  of  which  she  found 
herself  enceinte  in  1841,  and  which  died  as  soon  as  it  was 
brought  into  the  world.  During  this  period  she  was  sur- 
prised by  the  commissary  of  police  in  the  *' little  house"  on 
the  Rue  du  Dauphin,  belonging  to  Crevel ;  Hector  Hulot  was 
her  companion  in  the  bed.  After  living  with  Marneffe  on 
the  Rue  du  Doyenne,  the  house  in  which  Lisbeth  Fischer 
(Cousin  Betty)  also  lived,  she  was  installed  by  Baron  Hulot 
on  the  Rue  Vaneau ;  after  that,  by  Crevel  in  a  mansion  on 
the  Rue  Barbet-de-Jouy.  She  died  in  1843,  ^"^^  hours  before 
Crevel.  She  said  she  would  try  to  "come  round  God"; 
she  repented  and  made  full  restitution  of  three  hundred  thou- 


134  COMPENDIUM 

sand  francs  to  Hector  Hulot.  Valerie  Marneffe  did  not  lack 
intelligence.  The  great  critic,  Claud  Vignon,  particularly 
appreciated  the  intellectual  and  intelligent  depravity  of  this 
woman  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Crochard,  a  dancer  at  the  opera,  in  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  He  had  direction  of  the  evolutions  on 
the  stage ;  he  directed  the  assaults  of  a  band  of  assailants 
against  the  Bastille,  July  14,  1789;  became  an  officer — a 
colonel — and  died  in  1814,  from  the  result  of  wounds  received 
at  Lutzen,  May  2,  1813  [A  Second  Home,  ;$j]. 

Crochard,  Madame,  widow  of  the  preceding.  She  had 
been  a  chorus  singer  with  her  husband,  before  the  Revolution  ; 
in  1815  she  lived  poorly  with  her  daughter  Caroline,  in  a 
house  on  the  Rue  du  Tourniquet-Saint-Jean,*  Paris,  which  be- 
longed to  Molineux.  Mme.  Crochard,  wishing  to  see  a  *'  pro- 
tector "  for  her  daughter,  favored  the  love  of  Comte  de 
Granville  for  Caroline.  She  was  recompensed  by  an  annuity 
of  three  thousand  francs,  and  died,  1822,  in  a  convenient 
lodging,  Rue  Saint-Louis,  Marais.  She  was  constantly  press- 
ing to  her  breast  the  cross  of  a  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor,  conferred  upon  her  husband  by  the  Emperor.  The 
widow  Crochard  was  closely  questioned  at  a  visit  she  received 
in  her  last  moments  from  the  Abbe  Fontanon,  confessor  to 
the  Comtesse  de  Granville,  and  was  troubled  by  the  priest's 
manner  [A  Second  Home,  z\. 

Crochard,  Caroline,  born  in  1797,  daughter  of  the  pre- 
ceding persons.  She  was  for  a  number  of  years  the  mistress  of 
Comte  de  Granville,  under  the  Restoration.  She  was  then 
called  Mile,  de  Bellefeuille,  the  name  of  a  small  estate  in 
Gatinais,  given  to  the  young  woman  by  an  uncle  of  the  count 
who  had  conceived  a  great  affection  for  her.  Her  lover  in- 
stalled her  in  an  elegant  suite  of  rooms  on  the  Rue  Taitbout, 
the  same  as  afterward  occupied  by  Esther  Gobseck.     Caroline 

*  At  that  early  date,  this  had  already  been  razed  to  make  room  for  the 
H6tel  de  Ville. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  135 

Crochard  deserted  M.  de  Granville  and  a  good  position  for  an 
indigent  young  man  called  Solvet,  who  quickly  dissipated  all 
that  she  possessed.  Reduced  to  poverty  and  ill,  she  lived,  in 
1833,  on  the  Rue  Gaillon,  in  a  two-story  house  of  paltry 
appearance.  By  the  Comte  de  Granville  she  had  one  son 
and  one  daughter,  Charles  and  Eugenie  [A  Second  Home,  ;^]. 

Crochard,  Charles,  the  son  born  in  adultery  of  Comte  de 
Granville  and  Caroline  Crochard.  In  1833  he  was  arrested 
for  a  theft  of  valuables ;  he  was  released  through  his  father's 
offices,  on  the  request  of  Eugene  de  Granville,  his  natural 
brother,  the  count  furnishing  the  money  necessary  to  settle  up 
the  matter ;  it  being  given  to  Eugene  to  use  his  own  discretion 
in  arranging  the  wretched  business  [A  Second  Home,  9i\. 
This  robbery  was  committed  at  the  home  of  Mile.  Beaumesnil, 
and  it  was  the  actress'  diamonds  which  were  stolen  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Croisier,  Du.     See  Bousquier,  du. 

Croizeau,  an  old  coach-builder  to  the  Imperial  Court  under 
Bonaparte.  He  had  an  income  of  about  forty  thousand 
francs ;  lived  on  the  Rue  Buffault ;  a  widower  without  chil- 
dren. He  was  an  assiduous  attendant  at  the  reading-room 
kept  by  Antonia  Chocardelle,  Rue  Coquenard,  in  the  time  of 
Louis-Philippe ;  he  offered  his  hand  in  marriage  to  the 
*' handsome  lady"  [A  Man  of  Business,  T\. 

Crottat,  Monsieur  and  Madame,  old  farmers,  father  and 
mother  of  the  notary  Crottat,  assassinated  by  robbers,  one  of 
whom  was  the  infamous  Dannepont,  called  la  Pouraille  ;  the 
trial  in  this  affair  was  in  May,  1830  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^. 
They  were  very  wealthy,  and,  according  to  Cesar  Birotteau, 
who  knew  them,  the  husband  Crottat  was  as  **  close  as  a 
snail"  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Crottat,  Alexandre,  head  clerk  to  Maitre  Roguin  the 
notary.  He  succeeded  him  in  1819,  after  the  flight  of  the 
notary,  marrying  the  daughter  of  Lourdois,  the  master  painter. 
At  one  time  Cesar  Birotteau  had  an  idea  of  having  him  for  a 


136  COMPENDIUM 

son-in-law;  he  was  familiarly  known  by  the  name  of  '*  Xan- 
drot."  Alexandre  Crottat  was  one  of  those  invited  to  the 
famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer  in  December,  1818.  He 
was  in  friendly  relationship  with  Derville  the  attorney,  whom 
he  *'thee'd  and  thou'd  "  ;  he  was  commissioned  by  him  to 
make  a  sort  of  **  half-pay  "  to  Colonel  Chabert.  He  was  at  the 
same  time  Comtesse  Ferraud's  notary  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — 
Colonel  Chabert,  %\.  In  1822  he  was  notary  for  Comte  de 
Serizy  [A  Start  in  Life,  s],  and  of  Charles  de  Vandenesse, 
before  whom  one  evening  he  committed  the  blunder  of  stay- 
ing where  his  room  would  have  been  preferred.  He  caused 
his  client  and  Mme.  d'Aiglemont  much  sorrow  by  bringing 
up  old  memories,  in  the  first  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis- 
Philippe.  On  his  return  to  his  own  home  he  told  his  wife  all, 
and  she  covered  him  with  reproaches  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  >S^]. 
Together  with  Leopold  Hannequin,  Alexandre  Crottat  signed 
the  will  dictated  by  Sylvain  Pons,  just  before  his  death 
[Cousin  Pons,*  x]. 

Cruchot,  Abbe,  a  priest  at  Saumur,f  a  dignitary  in  the 
chapter  of  St.  Martin  de  Tours,  a  brother  of  the  notary 
Cruchot  and  uncle  of  President  Cruchot  de  Bonfons ;  the 
Talleyrand  of  his  family;  after  many  long  arguments  he 
brought  Eugenie  Grandet  to  marry  the  president,  in  1827 
[Eugenie  Grandet,  _E]. 

Cruchot,  a  notary  at  Saumur  under  the  Restoration,  a 
brother  of  Abbe  Cruchot,  uncle  of  President  Cruchot  de  Bon- 
fons. He  was  engaged,  the  same  as  was  the  priest,  in  trying  to 
bring  about  the  marriage  of  his  nephew  to  Eugenie  Grandet ; 
the  young  girl's  father  gave  M.  Cruchot  charge  of  his  usurious 

*  The  numerous  agitating  vicissitudes  which  cross  Mme.  d'Aiglemont's 
life  cause  much  confusion  and  a  disparity  in  the  statements.  In  error  it  is 
said  that  the  notary  Crotlat  committed  a  blunder  in  the  first  year  of  the 
reign  of  Louis-Philippe  in  the  presence  of  Mme.  d'Aiglemont  and  Charles 
de  Vandenesse;  in  reality  this  was  at  the  close  of  the  Restoration. 

I  In  the  department  of  Maine-et-Loire. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  137 

transactions,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  managed  all  his  mone- 
tary business  [Eugenie  Grandet,  J^\ 

Cruchot,  the  real  name  of  President  de  Bonfons  and  his 
wife. 

Curel,  a  goldsmith,  Paris ;  colonel  in  the  National  Guard ; 
with  his  wife  and  their  two  daughters  invited  to  the  famous 
ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December  17,  1818  [Cesar 
Birotteau,  O]. 

Cursy,  the  literary  pseudonym  of  Jean-Frangois  du  Bruel. 

Curieux,  Catherine.     See  Farrabesche,  Madame. 

Cydalise,  a  superb  Norman  woman,  of  Valognes,  who 
went  to  Paris  in  1840  to  make  traffic  of  her  good  looks. 
Born  in  1824,  she  was  not  at  this  time  quite  sixteen  years 
old ;  she  served  as  Montez's,  the  Brazilian,  instrument,  who, 
out  of  revenge  against  Mme.  Marneffe,  who  had  become  Mme. 
Crevel,  had  communicated  to  her,  by  one  of  his  negroes,  a 
terrible  complaint,  which  he  in  turn  took  from  her  and  then 
transmitted  it  to  the  faithless  Valerie,  who,  before  she  died, 
also  gave  it  to  her  husband.  It  is  possible  that  Cydalise  ac- 
companied Montez  to  Brazil,  the  only  place  where  that  loath- 
some disease  is  curable  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 


Dallot,  a  mason  in  the  environs  of  I'lsle-Adam,  who,  al 
the  commencement  of  the  Restoration,  wished  to  marry  a 
peasant  girl  of  little  intelligence,  called  Genevieve,  because 
she  had  a  little  bit  of  land ;  but  he  deserted  her  for  another 
woman  who  had  all  her  senses  and  rather  more  land  than  her. 
This  rupture  was  a  cruel  blow  to  Genevieve,  who  became  all 
but  an  idiot  [Farewell,  e\. 

Damaso  Pareto,  Marquis,  a  noble  Genoese,  of  a  de- 
cidedly French  spirit,  who  was  present,  in  1836,  at  the  French 
consul-general's   home   at   Genoa,  when  was  recounted  the 


138  COMPENDIUM 

unhappy  conjugal  life  of  Comte  Octave  de  Bauvan   [Hon- 
orine,  /?]. 

Dannepont,  called  la  Pouraille,  one  of  the  assassins  of 
M.  and  Mme.  Crottat.  Held  for  this  crime  in  the  Concier- 
gerie,  1830,  and  under  condemnation  for  capital  punishment; 
he  was  an  escaped  convict,  captured  by  the  police  five  years 
after  for  the  commission  of  other  crimes.  Born  about  1785  ; 
he  was  sent  to  the  hulks  when  nineteen  years  old ;  there  he 
met  Jacques  Collin  (Vautrin),  Riganson,  and  Selerier,  and 
these  formed  a  kind  of  triumvirate.  A  little,  dried-up,  skinny 
man,  with  a  face  like  a  weazel  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;$;]. 

Dauphin,  a  small  pastry-cook  at  Arcis-sur-Aube ;  well 
known  to  be  a  Republican.  In  1839,  during  an  election 
meeting,  he  interrogated  Sallenauve,  a  candidate,  on  Danton 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDZ)]. 

Dauriat,  a  publisher  and  bookseller,  Palais-Royal,  Paris, 
in  the  Galleries  de  Bois,*  under  the  Restoration.  He  bought 
*'  Les  Marguerites  "  from  Lucien  de  Rubempre  for  three  thou- 
sand francs,  as  Lucien  had  ''slashed"  a  book  of  Nathan's; 
he  did  not  publish  *'  Les  Marguerites  "  until  a  long  time  after, 
and  only  then  because  of  the  author's  posthumous  fame. 
Dauriat's  store  was  the  rendezvous  of  all  the  writers  and  poli- 
ticians in  vogue  at  that  time  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  Jf— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z'].  He  was  the  pub- 
lisher of  Canalis'  works;  in  1829  Dauriat  received  a  request 
from  Modeste  Mignon  for  information  of  the  poet,  to  which 
he  responded  with  a  very  ironical  letter.  Dauriat  said,  when 
speaking  of  these  famous  men  of  letters:  *'I  made  Canalis;  I 
made  Nathan"  [Modeste  Mignon,  JT]. 

David,  Madame,  a  woman  living  in  the  suburbs  of  Brives; 
she  died  of  fright  caused  by  the  Chauffeurs  at  the  time  of  the 
Directory,  falling  limp  at  the  feet  of  her  husband  [The 
Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Delbecq,  secretary  and  steward  of  Comte  Ferraud,  under 
*  Really  the  Galerie  d'Orl6ans. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  139 

the  Restoration.  An  old  attorney.  An  alert  man,  ambitious, 
and  entirely  devoted  to  the  countess,  whom  he  assisted  with 
his  advice  and  counseled  to  refuse  the  dowry  rights  of  Colonel 
Chabert,  when  that  officer  returned  and  demanded  them 
[Colonel  Chabert,  %\. 

Delsouq,  a  celebrated  robber  under  the  Restoration ;  a 
pupil  of  the  very  infamous  Dannepont,  called  la  Pouraille, 
whose  name  he  once  took  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^\ 

Denisart,  the  name  assumed  by  Cerizet  when  he  took  the 
disguise  of  an  old  man,  custom-house  officer,  chevalier  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  when  introduced  into  the  home  of  Antonia 
Chocardelle,  the  owner  of  a  lending  library  and  reading-room, 
to  beat  out  Maxime  de  Trailles,  who  was  his  debtor,  by  this 
cunning  scheme.  He  was  quite  successful  [A  Man  of  Busi- 
ness, T\. 

Derville,  an  attorney  at  Paris,  on  the  Rue  Vivienne,  from 
1819  to  1840  ;  born  in  1794,  the  seventh  child  of  a  bourgeois 
in  Noyon.  In  1816,  then  a  second  clerk,  he  lived  on  the 
Rue  des  Gres  (really  the  Rue  Cujas) ;  he  had  as  a  neighbor 
the  famous  usurer  Gobseck,  who  shortly  afterward  lent  him 
fifteen  thousand  francs  at  15  per  cent.,  with  which  he  pur- 
chased his  master's  practice ;  a  man  of  pleasure,  who  returned 
to  society.  Through  Gobseck  he  was  made  known  to  Jenny 
Malvaut,  whom  he  married  ;  from  him  he  also  learned  the 
Restauds'  secrets.  In  the  winter  of  1819-20  he  recounted 
their  misfortunes  before  the  Vicomtesse  de  Grandlieu.  Der- 
ville was  the  means  of  reestablishing  the  feminine  representa- 
tive of  the  younger  branch  of  the  Grandlieus  at  the  time  of 
the  return  of  the  Bourbons  ;  he  was  received  in  their  house  as 
a  friend  [Gobseck,  g\.  He  had  also  been  Bordin's  clerk  [A 
Start  in  Life,  s — A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\  He  was  Colonel 
Chabert's  attorney  when  he  returned  to  life  and  sought  his 
legitimate  rights  from  the  Comtesse  Ferraud ;  he  was  specially 
interested  in  the  old  officer,  he  succored  him,  and  was  grieved 
to  see  him,  some  years  after,  when  he  visited  the  hospital  for 


140  COMPENDIUM 

idiots  at  Bicdtre  [Colonel  Chabert,  ^].  Derville  was  also 
Comte  de  Serizy's,  Mme.  de  Nucingen's,  the  Dues  de  Grand- 
lieu  and  Chaulieu's  attorney,  and  was  in  the  confidence  of 
them  all.  In  1830,  with  Corentin,  under  the  name  of  Saint- 
Denis,  he  made  inquiries  of  the  Sechards,  at  Angouleme,  on 
the  subject  of  the  real  resources  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre 
[Father  Goriot,  6^^— The  Harlot's  Progress,  I^. 

Derville,  Madame,  nee  Jenny  Malvaut,  wife  of  Derville 
the  attorney;  a  young  Parisian  girl,  born  in  the  country. 
Left  alone  in  1826  she  led  a  virtuous,  hard-working  life  on 
the  fifth  story  of  a  mean  house  on  the  Rue  Montmartre, 
where  Gobseck  had  been  to  see  her  to  obtain  the  payment  of 
a  note  signed  by  her ;  he  informed  Derville  about  her,  and  he 
married  her  without  any  portion.  She  afterward  inherited 
seventy  thousand  francs  from  an  uncle,  a  farmer  who  had 
become  rich ;  this  money  enabled  her  husband  to  settle  with 
Gobseck  [Gobseck,  g\.  Being  desirous  of  attending  the 
famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December  17,  1818,  she 
paid  an  unexpected  visit  to  the  perfumer's  wife;  she  made 
much  of  Mile.  Birotteau,  and  was,  with  her  husband,  given  an 
invitation  to  the  fete.  She  had  apparently,  at  some  years 
previous  to  this,  worked  for  the  Birotteaus,  when  she  had  been 
a  sempstress  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Descoings,  M.  and  Madame,  father-in-law  and  mother- 
in-law  of  Doctor  Rouget ;  Issoudun  wool-brokers ;  they  had 
charge  of  the  sales  for  the  owners  and  bought  for  the  mer- 
chants the  fleeces  of  Berry.  They  bought  nationalized  lands, 
and  were  very  rich  and  miserly ;  they  died,  with  an  interval 
of  two  years  between  them,  under  the  Republic,  before  1799 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J"]. 

Descoings,  son  of  the  foregoing,  the  youngest  brother  of 
Mme.  Rouget,  the  doctor's  wife  ;  a  grocer.  Rue  Saint-Honore, 
Paris,  not  far  from  Robespierre's  domicile.  Descoings  married 
for  love  the  widow  of  the  Sieur  Bixiou,  his  predecessor,  a 
woman  some  twelve  years  older  than  himself,  but  of  good 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE,  141 

health,  and  "she  was  as  fat  as  a  thrush  after  the  vintage." 
Accused  of  "  monopolizing,"  he  was  sent  to  the  scaffold  along 
with  Andre  Chenier,  Thermidor  7,  of  the  year  II.  (July  25, 
1794) ;  the  death  of  the  grocer  produced  more  of  a  sensation 
than  the  death  of  the  poet.  Cesar  Birotteau  made  Descoings* 
old  store  his  perfumery,  **The  Queen  of  Roses,"  about  1800. 
Descoings  first  successor  failed  in  business;  so  also  did  the 
inventor  of  the  "  Compound  Sultana  Paste"  and  ''Eau  Car- 
minative" [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J^. 

Descoings,  Madame,  born  in  1744,  the  widow  of  two 
husbands,  both  of  whom  were  in  business  as  grocers,  Rue 
Saint-Honore,  Paris:  the  Sieurs  Bixiou  and  Descoings;  the 
grandmother  of  Jean-Jacques  Bixiou,  the  caricaturist.  After 
the  death  of  M.  Bridau,  chief  of  a  division  in  the  ministry 
of  the  Interior,  the  widow,  Mme.  Descoings,  went,  in  1819, 
to  live  with  her  niece,  Mme.  Bridau,  nte  Agathe  Rouget ; 
she  brought  into  the  common  fund  six  thousand  francs  of 
income.  She  was  an  excellent  woman,  and  in  her  time  had 
been  known  as  "the  handsome  grocer";  she  took  the 
management  of  the  household,  but  had  a  mania  for  playing 
the  lottery  unceasingly,  and  always  on  the  same  numbers, 
she  "nursed  the  three."  It  ended  in  her  ruining  her  niece; 
but  she  atoned  for  her  foolish  conduct  by  a  perfect  devotion, 
though  she  still  continued  to  place  her  money  on  the  pro- 
phetic three  numbers.  Her  savings  were  one  day  stolen  from 
her  mattress  by  Philippe  Bridau,  so  she  was  unable  to  place  it 
in  the  lottery.  It  was  now  that  the  famous  "three"  came 
out.  Mme.  Descoings  died  of  vexation,  December  31,  1821; 
only  for  this  theft  she  would  have  been  a  millionaire  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7]. 

Desfondrilles,  a  substitute  judge  at  Provins,  under  the 
Restoration ;  he  was  appointed  president  of  the  court  of  the 
same  town  under  Louis-Philippe.  An  old  man,  he  was  more 
an  archaeologist  than  a  magistrate;  it  was  amusing  to  him  to 
see  the  petty  actions  and  miserable  intrigues  that  were  brought 


142  COMPENDIUM 

before  him.  He  left  Tiphaine's  party  for  the  Liberal  side, 
led  by  Vinet  the  barrister  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Deslandes,  a  surgeon  at  Azay-le-Rideau,  1817.  He  was 
called  in  to  bleed  M.  de  Mortsauf,  whose  life  was  saved  by 
that  operation  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Desmarets,  Jules,  a  stockbroker  at  Paris,  under  the 
Restoration ;  a  hard-working,  honest  man,  whose  youth  had 
been  passed  in  austerity  and  poverty.  He  fell  in  love, 
while  still  but  an  employe,  with  a  charming  young  woman 
whom  he  met  at  his  employer's ;  he  married  her  in  spite  of 
the  irregularity  attending  her  antecedents;  with  the  funds  he 
received  from  his  wife's  mother  he  bought  the  stockbroker's 
connection  in  which  he  had  acted  as  a  clerk  during  very  many 
happy  years,  which  had  been  a  labor  of  love  and  performed  with 
the  greatest  ease.  Desmarets  had  now  an  income  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  francs.  In  1820  he  lived  with  his  wife  in  a 
great  mansion  on  the  Rue  Menars.  In  the  first  part  of  his  wed- 
ded life,  without  his  wife  knowing  anything  of  it,  he  killed  a  man 
in  a  duel  who  had  calumniated  her.  The  perfect  happiness 
enjoyed  by  this  well-matched  couple  was  suddenly  broken  by 
the  death  of  his  wife,  who  was  struck  to  the  heart  by  the  sus- 
picions, which,  for  a  moment  only,  her  husband  had  of  her 
faithfulness.  Desmarets,  a  widower,  sold  his  business  to  the 
brother  of  Martin  Falleix  and  left  Paris  in  despair  [The 
Thirteen — Ferragus,  hh\  M.  and  Mme.  Desmarets  were 
invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  in  1818; 
after  the  perfumer's  failure,  the  stockbroker,  out  of  pure 
benevolence,  gave  good  advice  as  to  the  placing  of  his  funds, 
painfully  gathered,  to  the  end  of  disinterestedly  being  able 
to  recoup  his  creditors  in  full  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Desmarets,  Madame  Jules,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  the 
natural  daughter  of  Bourignard,  called  Ferragus,  and  of  a 
married  woman  who  passed  as  her  godmother.  She  had  no 
civil  status  when  she  married  Jules  Desmarets ;  her  name  of 
Cl^raence  and  her  age  were  proclaimed  by  a  public  announce- 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  143 

ment.  Mme.  Desmarets  was,  in  spite  of  all  this,  loved  by  a 
young  officer  in  the  Royal  Guards,  Auguste  de  Maulincour. 
She  frequented  the  Nucingens.  The  visits  that  Mme.  Des- 
marets made  secretly  to  her  father,  a  mysterious  man,  were 
unknown  to  her  husband,  and  were  the  means  of  her  utterly 
losing  her  happiness ;  Desmarets  thought  her  false,  and  she 
died  of  this  suspicion  in  1820  or  1821.  Clemence's  remains, 
at  first  taken  to  Pere-Lachaise,  were  disinterred,  incinerated, 
and  taken  to  Jules  Desmarets  by  Bourignard,  aided  by  his 
dozen  friends ;  this  somewhat  relieved  the  poignant  grief  of 
the  widower  [The  Thirteen — Ferragus,  'bh\  M.  and  Mme. 
Desmarets  were  frequently  spoken  of  by  the  name  of  M.  and 
Mme.  Jules.  At  the  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December 
17,  1818,  Mme.  Desmarets  was  the  most  brilliant,  as  she  was 
the  most  beautiful,  of  all  present,  as  was  said  to  the  wife  of 
the  perfumer  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Desmarets,  a  notary  at  Paris,  under  the  Restoration ;  the 
eldest  brother  of  Jules  Desmarets,  the  stockbroker.  The 
notary  was  established  by  his  younger  brother  and  became 
rich  very  quickly.  He  received  his  brother's  will,  and  accom- 
panied him  to  the  funeral  of  Mme.  Desmarets  [Ferragus,  hh\ 

Desplein,  a  great  surgeon  of  Paris  ;  born  about  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  of  a  poor  family  in  the  provinces. 
He  had  a  rough  youth,  and  would  have  been  unable  to  pass 
his  examinations  but  for  the  aid  and  succor  of  a  neighbor  in 
poverty,  a  water-carrier  named  Bourgeat.  He  lived  with  him 
for  two  years  on  the  sixth  floor  of  a  mean  house  on  the  Rue 
des  Quatre- Vents,  where,  with  the  poet,  Daniel  d'Arthez,  he 
established  the  "  Cenacle,"  which  house  was  afterward  said 
to  be  the  "bowl  of  great  men."  Desplein  was  ejected  from 
his  rooms  by  the  owner  for  being  unable  to  pay  his  rent ;  so 
his  second  residence  was,  with  his  friend  the  Auvergnat,  in 
the  Rohan  court,  Passage  du  Commerce.  Being  received 
inside  the  Hotel-Dieu,  he  did  not  forget  the  benefits  done 
him  by  Bourgeat ;  he  attended  him  in  his  last  illness  the  same 


144  COMPENDIUM 

as  a  devoted  son,  and  founded,  under  the  Empire,  in  honor 
of  that  simple  man  of  religious  sentiments,  a  mass  to  be  said 
four  times  each  year  at  Saint-Sulpice,  and  at  which  he  piously- 
assisted,  although  a  confirmed  atheist  [The  Atheist's  Mass,  c\. 
In  1806  Desplein  had  condemned  to  a  speedy  death  an  old 
fellow,  then  aged  fifty-six  years,  and  who  was  still  living  in 
1846  [Cousin  Pons,  ^^].  The  surgeon  was  present  at  the 
desperate  death  of  M.  Chardon,  an  old  military  doctor  [Lost 
Illusions,  JV].  Desplein  attended,  in  their  last  moments, 
Mme.  Jules  Desmarets,  who  died  in  1820  or  182 1,  and  chief 
of  division  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere,  who  died  in  1824  [The 
Thirteen,  J5^ — Les  Employes,  cc\.  In  March,  1828,  at 
Provins,  he  performed  the  trepanning  operation  on  Pierrette 
Lorrain  [Pierrette,  ^].  In  the  same  year  he  performed  a  bold 
operation  on  Mme.  Philippe  Bridau,  who  by  the  abuse  of 
liquor  had  developed  a  *'  magnificent  complaint."  The  ope- 
ration was  published  in  the  "Gazette  des  Hopitaux,"  but  the 
one  upon  whom  it  was  performed  died  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, J\  In  1829  Desplein  was  called  in  to  see  Vanda 
de  Mergi,  Baron  du  Bourlac's  daughter  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T~\.  In  the  last  months  of  the  same  year  he  operated 
with  success  on  Mme.  Mignon,  who  had  become  blind;  and 
was  afterward,  in  February,  1830,  one  of  Modeste  Mignon's 
witnesses  when  she  was  married  to  Ernest  de  la  Briere  [Mo- 
deste Mignon,  K.\  At  the  beginning  of  the  same  year, 
1830,  he  was  called  on  by  Corentin  to  see  the  Baron  du 
Nucingen,  who  languished  for  love  of  Esther  van  Gobseck ; 
and  afterward,  to  see  Mme.  de  Serizy,  who  was  ill,  after  the 
suicide  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,Z\ 
With  his  pupil,  Bianchon,  he  attended  Mme.  de  Bauvan,  on 
the  point  of  death,  at  the  end  of  1830  or  the  beginning  of 
1831  [Honorine,  fe].  Desplein  had  an  only  daughter,  whose 
marriage  was  arranged  with  the  Prince  de  Loudon  in  1829. 

Desroches,  an  employe  in   the  Bureau  of  the  Interior, 
under  the  Empire ;  a  friend  of  Bridau  senior,  who  had  secured 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  145 

him  the  position.  His  friendship  survived  his  death,  and  was 
transferred  to  the  widow  of  his  chief,  whom  he  met  nearly 
every  evening,  his  colleagues  being  MM.  du  Bruel  and  Clapa- 
ron.  A  spare,  rough  man,  he  would  never,  in  spite  of  his 
aptitude,  become  the  sub-chief;  he  earned  no  more  than  eigh- 
teen hundred  francs,  and  his  wife  twelve  hundred  by  keeping 
an  office  for  stamped  papers.  Compelled  to  retire  after  the 
second  return  of  Louis  XVIII.,  he  talked  of  entering,  as  his 
chief  had  done,  into  an  insurance  company.  In  182 1,  in 
spite  of  his  lack  of  tenderness,  Desroches  was  engaged  with 
much  ardor  in  trying  to  patch  up  a  bad  step  taken  by  Philippe 
Bridau,  who  had  "borrowed  "  from  the  cash-box  of  the  news- 
paper on  which  he  was  employed ;  he  arranged  it  so  that  his 
dismissal  was  brought  about  without  any  scandal.  Desroches, 
a  man  of  ''  good  judgment,"  was  the  last  friend  remaining  to 
the  widow,  Mme.  Bridau,  after  the  deaths  of  MM.  du  Bruel 
and  Claparon.  He  was  an  angler  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, «/"]. 

Desroches,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  In  1826, 
then  a  widow,  she  asked  for  the  hand  of  Mile.  Matifat  for  her 
son,  Desroches,  the  attorney  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f\. 

Desroches,  son  of  the  two  last  named,  born  about  1795, 
brought  up  rigorously  by  a  father  of  undue  severity.  He 
entered  Derville's  office  as  fourth  clerk  in  1818,  and  in  the 
year  following  passed  to  second  clerk.  While  with  Derville 
he  saw  Colonel  Chabert.  In  1821  or  1822  he  bought  an 
attorney's  practice,  an  empty  title,  on  the  Rue  de  Bethizy.* 
Wily  and  clever  he  soon  had  for  clients  men  of  letters,  artists, 
women  of  the  theatres,  renowned  lorettes,  and  fashionable 
bohemians.  The  counselor  of  Agathe  and  Joseph  Bridau, 
he  gave  many  precise  and  precious  instructions  to  Philippe 
Bridau,  when  he  was  about  starting  for  Issoudun  about  1822 
[A    Bachelor's    Establishment,    e7— Colonel    Chabert,   i — A 

*  This  disappeared  by  the  lengthening  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  from  1852 
to  1855. 
10 


146  COMPENDIUM 

Start  in  Life,  s — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)JD].  Desroches 
was  the  attorney  for  Charles  de  Vandenesse  and  pleaded 
against  his  brother  Felix;  of  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  who 
sought  for  a  commission  in  lunacy  on  her  husband  j  and  of 
the  secretary-general,  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  whom  he  cun- 
ningly advised  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  H — The  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  c — Les  Employes,  cc].  Lucien  de  Rubempre  con- 
sulted Desroches  in  reference  to  the  seizure  of  Coralie's  furni- 
ture, who  was  then  his  mistress,  1822  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  iff].  Vautrin  fully  appreciated  the 
attorney's  skill ;  he  said  that  they  would  not  again  be  able 
to  augment  de  Rubempre's  land  so  as  to  bring  in  thirty  thou- 
sand francs  per  year  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  !F].  In  1826 
Desroches  once  sought  the  hand  of  Malvina  d'Aldrigger  in 
marriage  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f].  About  1840  he  told,  at 
the  house  of  Mile.  Turquet  (Malaga),  who  was  then  kept  by 
Cardot  the  notary,  and  before  Bixiou,  Lousteau,  and  Nathan, 
invited  by  the  scrivener,  the  ruses  employed  by  Cerizet  to 
overreach  Maxime  de  Trailles,  who  was  his  creditor  [A  Man 
of  Business,  V\.  Desroches  was  also  Cerizet's  attorney,  when 
he  had  a  difference  with  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  in  1840  ; 
he  also  represented  Sauvaignou's  interests  at  the  same  time 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\.  Desroches*  office  was  situated 
most  likely,  at  one  time,  on  the  Rue  Buci  [A  Bachelor's  Es- 
tablishment, «/]. 

Desroys,  an  employe  at  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  Bau- 
doyer's  office,  under  the  Restoration.  The  son  of  a  conven- 
tionalist who  had  not  voted  for  the  death  of  the  King ;  a  repub- 
lican and  the  friend  of  Michel  Chrestien,  he  had  no  dealings 
with  any  of  his  colleagues  and  kept  his  life  hidden  and  his 
domicile  unknown.  He  was  dismissed  in  December,  1824, 
on  account  of  his  opinions  and  by  Dutocq's  denunciation 
[Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Desroziers,  a  musician  who  won  the  prize  at  Rome ;  he 
died  in  that  town  of  typhoid  fever  in  1836.     A  friend  of  the 


C0M£:DIE  HUMAINE.  -        147 

sculptor  Dorlange,  to  whom  he  recounted  Zambinella's  his- 
tory, the  death  of  Sarrasine,  and  the  marriage  of  Comte  de 
Lanty.  Desroziers  gave  lessons  in  harmony  to  Marianina, 
the  count's  daughter.  The  musician  induced  his  friend, 
momentarily  short  of  ready  money,  to  make  a  copy  of  a 
statue  of  Adonis,  which  reproduced  Zambinella's  traits,  and 
this  copy  was  bought  by  Monsieur  de  Lanty  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  Djy\. 

Desroziers,  a  printer  at  Moulins,  department  of  the 
AUier.  After  1830  he  printed  in  a  small  volume  the  works 
of  ''Jan  Diaz,  the  son  of  a  Spanish  prisoner,  born  in  1807 
at  Bourges."  This  book  was  prefaced  by  an  introduction 
written  by  M.  de  Clagny.  It  contained  an  elegy,  "  Tris- 
tesse"  ;  two  poems,  "  Paquita  la  Sevillane  "  and  "Le  Chene 
de  la  Messe " ;  also  three  sonnets  and  a  novel  entitled 
"Carola,"  etc.  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Destourny.     See  Estourny,  d'. 

Dey,  CoMTESSE  de,  born  about  1755.  The  widow  of  a 
lieutenant-general,  retired  to  Carentan,  department  of  the 
Manche ;  she  died  suddenly  of  a  shock  to  her  maternal  feel- 
ings, November,  1793  [The  Conscript,  6]. 

Dey,  AuGUSTE,  Comtk  de,  only  son  of  Madame  de  Dey. 
At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  of 
dragoons ;  as  a  point  of  honjDr  he  followed  the  princes  in  their 
emigration.  His  mother  worshiped  him;  she  stayed  in 
France  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  her  fortune.  He  had 
formed  part  of  Granville's  expedition ;  made  a  prisoner  at 
the  end  of  that  affair,  and  wrote  Madame  de  Dey  that  he 
should  return  home  in  three  days  in  disguise,  having  made 
his  escape.  But  he  was  shot  in  the  Morbihan  at  the  self- 
same moment  that  his  mother  died,  her  death  being  caused 
by  having  received  as  her  son  the  conscript  Julien  Jussieu 
[The  Conscript,  6]. 

Diard,  Pierre-Francois,  born  in  the  environs  of  Nice, 
the  son  of  a  provost  of  merchants,  quartermaster  of  the  Sixth 


148  COMPENDIUM 

Regiment  of  the  line,  1808;  then  major  of  a  battalion  in  the 
Imperial  Guard ;  he  retired  with  the  last  grade,  owing  to 
serious  wounds  which  he  received  in  Germany ;  he  afterward 
became  an  administrator,  a  man  about  town,  and  a  confirmed 
gambler.  He  was  Juana  Mancini's  husband,  who  had  been 
the  mistress  of  Captain  Montefiore,  Diard's  most  intimate 
friend.  In  1823,  at  Bordeaux,  reduced  to  this  expedient,  he 
killed  Montefiore  for  the  purpose  of  robbery,  having  met  him 
by  chance ;  on  his  return  home  he  confessed  his  crime  to  his 
wife,  who  vainly  begged  him  to  kill  himself;  she  then  shot 
him  in  the  brain  with  a  pistol  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Diard,  Maria-Juana-Pepita,  daughter  of  la  Marana,  a 
Venetian  courtesan,  and  a  young  Italian  noble,  Mancini,  who 
recognized  her.  The  wife  of  Pierre-Francois  Diard,  whom 
she  had  accepted  by  her  mother's  command  after  being  de- 
serted by  Montefiore,  who  did  not  wish  to  marry  her.  Juana 
was  brought  up  in  a  most  austere  manner  in  the  house  of  a 
Spaniard,  Perez  de  Lagounia,  at  Tarragon,  under  her  father's 
name ;  she  was  the  descendant  of  a  long  line  of  courtesans,  a 
family  purely  feminine;  the  blood  of  her  grandparents  flowed 
in  her  veins.  She  was  unconsciously  carried  away  by  this 
when  she  first  met  Montefiore.  Although  she  did  not  love 
her  husband,  she  was  nevertheless  strictly  faithful ;  and  she 
killed  him  for  honor's  sake.  She  had  two  children  [The 
Maranas,  e]. 

Diard,  Juan,  Madame  Diard's  first  child.  He  came  into 
the  world  seven  months  after  his  mother's  marriage,  and  was 
most  probably  Montefiore's  son.  He  was  the  exact  picture 
of  Juana,  who  was  secretly  prodigal  of  her  caresses  with  him, 
at  the  same  time  she  openly  pretended  to  care  the  most  for 
her  younger  son.  By  "a  kind  of  admirable  flattery"  ini- 
tiated by  his  wife,  Diard  made  Juan,  the  eldest  born,  his 
favorite  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Diard,  Francisque,  the  second  son  of  M.  and  Mme. 
Diard,  born  at  Paris.     The  living  picture  of  his  father,  and 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  .     149 

(but    only  apparently  so)  his   mother's    favorite   [The   Ma- 
ran  as,  e\. 

"Diaz,  Jan,  the  pseudonym  used  by  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye 
in  signing  a  very  eccentric  poem  in  *' TEcho  du  Morvan," 
entitled '^Paquita  la  Sevillane "  ;  and  also  published  in  a 
volume  printed  by  Desroziers  at  Moulins  about  1830  [Muse 
of  the  Department,  OC]. 

Diodati,  the  name  of  the  owner  of  a  villa  on  Lake  Geneva, 
1823-24.  A  character  in  a  novel,  **  Ambitious  for  Love," 
published  in  1834  by  Albert  Savarus,  in  the  '*  Revue  de  I'Est  " 
[Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Dionis,  a  notary  of  Nemours,  since  1813  or  thereabouts, 
in  the  early  years  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  He  was  a  Cre- 
miere-Dionis,  but  was  always  addressed  by  his  second  name. 
A  cunning,  false  man  ;  a  secret  partner  of  Massin-Levrault  in 
the  usury  business  ;  he  was  interested  in  the  succession  to 
Doctor  Minoret's  estate  and  gave  counsel  to  the  three  heirs 
of  the  old  physician.  After  the  Revolution  of  1830,  he  was 
appointed  mayor  of  Nemours,  replacing  Levrault,  and,  about 
1837,  became  a  deputy.  He  was  then  with  his  a  wife  a  guest 
at  the  Court  balls,  and  Mme.  Dionis  was  "enthroned"  in 
her  little  town  '*  as  having  the  manners  of  the  throne."  There 
was  at  least  one  daughter  [Ursule  Mirouet,  S}.  Dionis 
breakfasted  familiarly  with  Rastignac,  minister  of  public 
works,  from  1839  to  1845  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  UIJ]. 

Doguereau,  publisher,  Rue  du  Cocq,  Paris,  1821,  and 
from  the  commencement  of  the  century ;  an  old  professor  of 
rhetoric.  Lucien  de  Rubempre  offered  him  his  romance, 
**The  Archer  of  Charles  IX.,"  but  the  publisher  would  not 
give  him  more  than  four  hundred  francs  for  it,  so  the  affair 
closed  there  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JML']. 

Doisy,  a  porter  at  the  Lepitre  institution,  Paris,  in  the 
Marais  quarter,  about  1814,  at  the  time  when  Felix  de  Van- 
denesse  had  completed  his  studies.  The  young  man  had 
contracted  a  debt  of  one  hundred  francs  with  him,  for  which 


150  COMPENDIUM 

he  was  severely  reprimanded  by  his  mother  [The  Lily  of  the 
Valley,  i]. 

Dominis,  Abbe  de,  a  priest  of  Troyes,  under  the  Restora- 
tion, Jacques  de  Mortsauf 's  tutor  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Dommanget,  a  doctor-accoucheur,  celebrated  in  Paris,  in 
the  time  of  Louis-Philippe.  Called  in,  1840,  to  see  Mme. 
Calyste  du  Guenic,  whom  he  had  delivered,  and  who  upon 
the  sudden  revelation  of  her  husband's  infidelity  fell  into  a 
highly  dangerous  state,  for  she  was  at  this  time  nursing  her 
son.  Dommanget,  taken  into  confidence,  treated  and  cured 
the  illness  by  purely  moral  remedies  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Doni,  Massimilla.     See  Varese,  Princesse  de. 

Dorlange,  Charles,  the  first  name  of  Sallenauve.  See 
Sallenauve. 

Dorlonia,  Due.     See  Torlonia. 

Dorsonval,  Madame,  a  bourgeoise  of  Saumur,  friendly 
with  M.  and  Mme.  des  Grassins,  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration 
[Eugenie  Grandet,  JEi\ 

Doublet,  second  clerk  in  the  office  of  Desroches  the  at- 
torney, 1822  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Doublon,  Victor-Ange-Hermenegilde,  a  bailiff  at  An- 
gouleme  under  the  Restoration.  He  was  the  instrument  of 
the  service  of  the  account  against  David  Sechard  by  the 
Cointet  Brothers  [Lost  Illusions,  JV]. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  an  Englishman,  the  manager  of  the 
Italian  theatre,  London,  1839.  His  prima  donna  was  Luigia, 
who  succeeded  la  Serboni  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DJ[>]. 

Duberghe,  a  wine  merchant  of  Bordeaux,  of  whom  Nu- 
cingen  bought,  in  1815,  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  bottles  of  wine,  paying  therefor 
thirty  sous  a  bottle ;  the  financier  received  in  return  six  francs 
for  each  bottle  sold  to  the  allies  from  181 7  to  1819  [The 
Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

Dubourdieu,  born  about  1805,  a  symbolic  painter,  a  dis- 
ciple of  Fourier's;  decorated.     In  1845  ^^  was  met  and  ac- 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  151 

costed  by  his  friend  Leon  de  Lora,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Neuve-Vivienne ;  he  gave  a  synopsis  of  his  ideas  on  art  and 
philosophy  before  Gazonal  and  Bixiou,  who  were  in  the  now 
famous  landscape  painter's  company  [The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, u\. 

Dubut,  DE  Caen,  merchant,  allied  to  Messrs.  de  Bois- 
franc,  de  Boisfrelon,  and  de  Boislaurier,  who  were  also  of  the 
Dubuts,  and  whose  grandfather  was  a  linen-merchant.  Dubut, 
de  Caen,  was  implicated'  in  the  trial  of  the  Chauffeurs  of 
Mortagne,  1808,  and  was  condemned  to  death  for  non-appear- 
ance. Under  the  Restoration  he  hoped  by  his  devotion  to 
the  Royal  cause  to  succeed  to  the  title  of  M.  de  Boisfranc ; 
Louis  XVIIL  appointed  him  grand  provost,  in  1815,  and 
soon  after  attorney-general  under  the  coveted  name ;  he  died 
the  first  president  of  the  court  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T\ 

Ducange,  Victor,  a  French  writer  of-  romances  and  an 
insipid  dramatic  author,  born  in  1783  at  La  Haye,  died 
1833.  One  of  the  collaborators  of  "Thirty  Years,  or  the 
Life  of  a  Gambler,"  and  the  author  of  "  Leonide,  or  the 
Maid  of  Suresnes."  Victor  Ducange  was  a  guest,  1821,  at 
the  home  of  Braulard,  head  claquer,  at  a  dinner  at  which 
also  Adele  Dupuis,  Frederic  Dupetit-Mere,  and  Mile.  Millot, 
Braulard's  mistress,  were  guests  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M\ 

Dudley,  Lord,  statesman,  an  old  man,  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  English  peers,  located  in  Paris  since  i8t6; 
the  husband  of  Lady  Arabelle  Dudley ;  the  putative  father  of 
Henri  de  Marsay,  of  whom  he  took  little  notice  and  who  be- 
came Arabelle's  lover.  This  person  was  "profoundly  im- 
moral "  ;  among  his  numerous  illegal  posterity  he  counted 
Euphemia  Porraberil ;  and  among  the  women  whom  he  kept 
a  certain  Hortense,  who  lived  on  the  Rue  Tronchet.  Lord 
Dudley,  before  establishing  himself  in  France,  lived  in  his 
native  country  with  two  sons  born  of  him  in  wedlock,  but 


152  COMPENDIUM 

who  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  Marsay  [The  Lily  of 
the  Valley,  i— The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.— A  Man 
of  Business,  V\.  Lord  Dudley  early  in  1830  was  present  at  an 
assembly  at  Mile,  des  Touches,  when  Marsay,  then  prime 
minister,  told  the  story  of  his  first  love,  and  these  two  states- 
men exchanged  philosophical  reflections  [Another  Study  of 
Woman,  V\.  In  1834  he  went  by  chance  to  a  great  ball 
given  by  his  wife,  and  he  played  in  the  drawing-room  with 
bankers,  ambassadors,  and  former  ministers  [A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  F]. 

Dudley,  Lady  Arabelle,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  of  an 
illustrious  English  family,  free  from  all  mesalliances  since  the 
Conquest ;  immensely  wealthy ;  one  of  those  ladies  who  are 
half-royal  \  the  idol  of  Parisian  high  society  under  the  Res- 
toration. She  lived  apart  from  her  husband,  to  whom  she 
left  her  two  sons,  who  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  Marsay, 
of  whom  she  had  been  the  mistress.  She  in  some  sort  drew 
away  Felix  de  Vandenesse  from  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  and  so 
caused  the  despair  of  that  virtuous  woman.  She  was  born,  she 
said,  in  Lancashire,  where  the  women  die  for  love  [The  Lily 
of  the  Valley,  X].  In  the  first  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
X.,  at  least  during  the  summer,  she  lived  in  the  village  of 
Chatenay,  near  Sceaux  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  vl\.  Raphael  de 
Valentin  desired  her  and  would  have  obtained  her,  only  that 
he  feared  to  use  the  wild  ass'  skin  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\.*^ 
In  1832  he  was  present  at  a  soiree  at  Mme.  d'Espard's,  where 
the  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse  was  "smitten"  by  Daniel 
d'Arthez,  and  who  also  fell  in  love  with  her  [The  Secrets  of 
the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^].  Very  jealous  of  Mme.  Felix 
de  Vandenesse,  the  wife  of  her  former  lover,  1834-35,  she 
schemed  with  Mme.  de  Listomere  and  Mme.  d'Espard  to 
have  that  young  woman  fall  into  the  poet  Nathan's  arms, 
whom  she  wished  had  been  even  more  ugly.  She  said  to 
Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse :  "  Marriage,  my  child,  is  our 
purgatory;  love  is  our  paradise  "  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  V\. 


COMj^DIE  HUMAINE.  153 

Lady  Dudley,  out  of  revenge,  caused  the  death  of  Lady 
Brandon  from  chagrin  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Dufau,  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  a  commune  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Grenoble,  of  which  Dr.  Benassis  was  the  mayor, 
under  the  Restoration ;  he  was  then  a  tall,  spare  man,  with 
gray  hair,  clothed  in  black.  He  strongly  exerted  himself  in 
the  renovation  brought  about  by  that  doctor  in  the  village 
[The  Country  Doctor,  O]. 

Dufaure,  Jules-Armand-Stanislas,  barrister  and  French 
politician;  born  December  4,  1798,  at  Saujon,  Charente- 
Inferieure ;  died  an  academician,  at  Rueil,  in  the  summer  of 
1881  {sic)'^  a  friend  and  disciple  of  Louis  Lambert  and  of 
Barchou  de  Penhoen,  at  Vendome  College,  181 1  [Louis 
Lambert,  li\. 

DuinefF,  a  Frankish  name,  common  to  the  two  families  of 
Cinq-Cygne  and  Chargebceuf  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Dulmen,  a  branch  of  the  family  Rivaudoult  d'Arschoot, 
of  Galicia,  to  which  Armand  de  Montriveau  was  allied  [The 
Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh\ 

Dumay,  Anne- Francois-Bernard  ;  born  at  Vannes  in 
1777.  The  son  of  a  wicked  barrister,  president  of  a  revolu- 
tionary tribunal  under  the  Republic,  and  who  perished  on  the 
scaffold  after  Thermidor  9.  His  mother  died  of  vexation. 
Anne  Dumay  went  as  a  common  soldier  with  the  army  to 
Italy  in  1799.  He  retired,  at  the  fall  of  the  Empire,  with 
the  grade  of  lieutenant,  and  became  much  attached  to  Charles 
Mignon,  whom  he  had  known  in  his  first  years  of  military  life. 
Entirely  devoted  to  his  friend,  who  had  in  fact  saved  his  life 
at  Waterloo,  he  was  of  great  assistance  to  him  in  the  trading 
enterprises  of  the  Mignon  house,  and  faithfully  looked  after 
Mme.  and  Mile.  Mignon  during  the  prolonged  absence  of  the 
head  of  that  family,  owing  to  his  sudden  ruin.  Mignon  re- 
turned from  America  with  great  wealth,  and  Dumay  largely 
profited  by  his  good  fortune  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK"]. 

Dumay,  Madame,  nee  Grummer,  wife  of  the  preceding. 


154  COMPENDIUM 

An  American,  a  pretty  little  person  ;  she  married  her  husband 
at  the  time  he  made  a  voyage  to  America  on  behalf  of  his  em- 
ployer 'and  friend,  Charles  Mignon,  under  the  Restoration. 
They  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  all  their  children,  without 
hope  of  ever  having  others ;  so  they  became  dearly  attached 
to  Mignon's  two  daughters.  She,  the  same  as  her  husband, 
was  entirely  devoted  to  that  family  [Modeste  Mignon,  lSi\ 

Dumets,  a  young  clerk  in  the  office  of  Desroches,  the 
attorney,  in  1822  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Dupetit-Mere,  Frederic;  born  in  Paris,  1785;  died  in 
1827  ;  a  dramatic  author  who  had  his  hour  of  fame.  Under 
the  name  of  Frederic  he  had  presented  alone,  or  in  collabo- 
ration with  Ducange,  Rougemont,  Brazier,  etc.,  a  great  num- 
ber of  melodramas,  vaudevilles,  and  fairy  pieces.  In  1821  he 
attended  a  dinner  given  by  Braulard,  the  chief  claquer,  to- 
gether with  Ducange,  Adele  Dupuis,  and  Mile.  Millot  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JjT]. 

Duplanty,  Abbe,  vicar  of  St.  Francois  church,  Paris; 
requested  by  Schmucke,  he  administered  extreme  unction  to 
Pons,  in  1845,  who  lay  dying,  and  who  recognized  him  and 
appreciated  his  kindness  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Duplay,  the  wife  of  a  carpenter  on  the  Rue  Honore,  in 
whose  house  Robespierre  lived ;  a  customer  of  Descoings  the 
grocer,  whom  she  denounced  as  a  *' monopolist."  This  de- 
nunciation led  to  his  incarceration  and  death  on  the  scaffold 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Dupotet,  a  kind  of  bank  established  at  Croisic,  under  the 
Restoration.  It  had  the  modest  patrimony  of  Pierre  Cam- 
bremer  on  deposit  [A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e\. 

Dupuis,  a  notary  in  the  St.  Jacques  quarter,  under  Louis- 
Philippe  ;  of  ostentatious  piety  and  a  church-warden  of  the 
parish.  He  had  the  savings  of  a  large  number  of  servants. 
Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  who  recruited  for  capital  to  be  placed 
in  his  keeping,  persuaded  Mme.  Lambert,  M.  Picot's  house- 
keeper, to  place  twenty-five  hundred  francs,  gathered  at  the 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  155 

expense  of  her  master,  in  the  hands  of  that  virtuous  man,  who 
became  a  bankrupt  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Dupuis,  Adele,  an  actress  of  Paris,  who  was  for  a  long 
time,  and  with  great  eclat,  employed  as  *' first  lady"  at  the 
Gaite ;  she  was  at  the  dinner  given  by  Braulard,  chief  of  the 
claquers,  when  were  also  present  Ducange,  Frederic  Dupetit- 
Mere,  and  Mile.  Millot,  the  amphitryon's  mistress  [A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  ]K\ 

Durand,  Chessel's  real  name.  This  name  of  Chessel  had 
been  that  of  Mme.  Durand.  *'  Monsieur  de  Chessel  generally 
has  something  of  the  Durand  about  him,"  was  the  witticism 
long  enjoyed  in  Touraine. 

Duret,  Abbe,  cure  of  Sancerre  under  the  Restoration,  an 
old  man  of  the  old  clergy.  A  boon  companion,  he  frequented 
the  society  of  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye,  at  whose  home  he  satis- 
fied his  penchant  for  play.  Very  delicately  Duret  explained 
M.  de  la  Baudraye's  real  character  to  his  young  wife ;  he  ad- 
vised her  to  seek  in  literature  a  relief  from  the  secret  bitter- 
ness of  her  conjugal  life  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Duriau,  a  celebrated  man-midwife  of  Paris.  Assisted  by 
Bianchon,  he  delivered  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye,  1837  (when 
living  with  Lousteau),  of  a  boy  of  that  journalist's  parentage 
[Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Durieu,  cook  and  factotum  of  Cinq-Cygne  castle  under 
the  Consulate.  An  old  and  faithful  servitor,  wholly  devoted 
to  his  mistress,  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne.  He  was  married ; 
his  wife  was  the  housekeeper  at  the  castle  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery,jfn. 

Duroc,  Gerard-Christophe-Michel,  Due  de  Frioul, 
grand  marshal  of  Napoleon's  palace;  born  at  Pont-a-Mousson, 
1772  ;  killed  on  the  field  of  battle  in  1813.  October  13,  1806, 
the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Jena,  he  introduced  the  Marquis  de 
Chargeboeuf  and  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne  to  the  Emperor 
[A  Historical  Mystery,;!^].  In  the  month  of  April,  1813, 
he  assisted  at  a  review  at  the  Carrousel,  Paris,  when  Napoleon 


156  COMPENDIUM 

addressed  him  on  the  subject  of  Mile,  de  Chatillonest,  who 
was  singled  out  by  him  among  the  crowd ;  a  few  words  were 
spoken  which  made  the  grand  marshal  smile  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  ^]. 

Durut,  Jean-Francois,  a  criminal  that  Prudence  Servien 
helped  to  have  committed  to  hard  labor  by  her  deposition 
before  the  Assize  Court.  Durut  swore  to  Prudence,  before 
the  same  court,  that  he  would  kill  her  when  once  at  liberty ; 
but  he  was  executed  on  the  hulks  four  years  after,  in  1829. 
Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin,  through  this  obtained  Pru- 
dence's devotion;  he  boasted  of  having  had  Durut  made 
away  with ;  his  menaces  were  a  continual  terror  to  her  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Z\ 

Dutheil,  Abbe,  one  of  two  vicars-general  of  the  bishop  of 
Limoges,  under  the  Restoration  ;  one  of  the  luminaries  of  the 
Gallacian  church;  appointed  bishop  August,  1831,  and  arch- 
bishop 1840.  He  presided  over  the  public  confession  of 
Mme.  Grasslin,  of  whom  he  was  the  friend  and  counselor, 
and  whom  he  buried  in  1844  [The  Country  Parson,  J^]. 

Dutocq,  born  in  1786.  He  entered  the  Bureau  of  Finance 
in  1814,  succeeding  Poiret  senior,  being  placed  in  the  office 
under  Rabourdin's  direction ;  he  was  a  draughting-clerk. 
Incapable  and  an  idler,  he  hated  his  chief  and  brought  about 
his  downfall.  Very  mean  and  very  inquisitive,  he  tried  to 
strengthen  his  position  by  acting  as  a  spy  in  the  offices ;  the 
secretary-general,  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  was  informed  by 
him  of  certain  happenings.  Dutocq  outwardly  affected  very 
pronounced  religious  opinions,  which  he  thought  would  aid 
in  his  advancement.  He  had  a  passion  for  collecting  old 
engravings  and  claimed  as  complete  "  his  Charlets,"  which  he 
gave  or  lent  to  the  wife  of  the  minister.  At  this  time  he 
lived  on  the  Rue  Saint-Louis-Saint-Honore,*  near  the  Palais- 
Royale,  on  the  fifth  story  of  a  house  in  a  court,  and  took  his 
meals  at  a  boarding-house  on  the  Rue  de  Beaune  [Les  Em- 
*It  disappeared  in  1854  in  the  transformation  of  the  Rue  de  I'Echelle. 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  157 

ployes,  cc\.  In  1840,  retired,  he  was  clerk  to  a  justice  of 
the  peace  in  the  maire  of  the  Pantheon,  and  resided  in  la 
Thuillier's  house,  Rue  Saint-Dominique  d'Enfer.  He  re- 
mained a  bachelor ;  he  had  all  the  vices,  but  carefully  con- 
cealed his  real  life  and  saved  appearances ;  he  grossly  flattered 
his  superiors  to  keep  his  position.  He  was  mixed  up  with 
Cerizet,  in  divers  villainous  intrigues,  who  was  his  copying 
clerk ;  and  with  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  the  crafty  barrister 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Duval,  an  opulent  forge-master  at  Alengon,  whose  daugh- 
ter, the  grand-niece  of  M.  du  Croisier  (or  Bousquier),  was 
married  in  1830,  with  a  dowry  of  three  millions,  to  Victurnien 
d'Esgrignon  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\. 

Duval,  a  professor  and  celebrated  chemist,  Paris,  1843. 
A  friend  of  Dr.  Bianchon,  he  analyzed  for  him  the  blood  of 
M.  and  Mme.  Crevel,  infected  with  a  singular  cutaneous  dis- 
ease which  caused  their  death  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Duvignon.     See  Lanty,  de. 

Duvivier,  a  jeweler  at  Vendome  under  the  Empire. 
Mme.  de  Merret  swore  to  her  husband  that  she  had  bought  an 
ebony  and  silver  crucifix  from  that  merchant,  which  in  reality 
she  had  obtained  from  her  lover,  Bagos  de  Feredia.  It  was 
on  this  crucifix  that  she  took  her  false  oath  [The  Great 
Breteche,  X\. 


Ellis,  William,  a  celebrated  English  physician  and  alienist 
who  had  charge  of  the  asylum  at  Han  well,  1839,  at  the  time 
when  Marie  Gaston  became  insane  and  was  there  admitted 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  />D]. 

Emile,  "a  lion  of  the  most  triumphant  species,"  known 
to  Mme.  Komorn  (Comtesse  Godollo).  One  evening,  in  1840 
or  1841,  on  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  this  woman,  who  had 
escaped  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade's  researches,  took  the  arm  of 


158  COMPENDIUM 

this  dandy  and  begged  him  to  accompany  her  to  the  Mabille,* 
where  the  jolly  dances  were  held  till  daylight  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Ernest,  a  child  invited  by  NaVs  de  I'Estorade  to  the  bal 
masque,  given,  in  Paris,  by  the  mother  of  that  little  girl,  in 
1839.  At  this  festival  a  young  "  Highlander  "  suggested  that 
Ernest  should  join  him  in  finding  a  corner  for  a  quiet  smoke. 
"  I  cannot,  my  dear  fellow;  you  know  that  Leontine  always 
makes  a  scene  when  she  finds  out  that  I  have  been  smoking. 
She  is  in  the  sweetest  mood  to-night.  There,  see  what  she 
has  just  given  me."  This  was  a  horsehair  ring  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  _DjD]. 

Esgrignon,  Charles-Marie- Victor-Ange  Carol,  Mar- 
quis d'  (or  des  Grignons,  to  follow  the  old  title),  commander 
of  the  order  of  Saint-Louis,  born  about  1750,  died  in  1830. 
The  head  of  a  very  ancient  family  of  Franks,  the  Krawls,  who 
came  from  the  north  to  conquer  the  Gauls  and  who  were 
charged  to  defend  one  of  the  French  ways.  The  Esgrignons, 
quasi  princes  under  the  Valois,  all-powerful  under  Henri  IV., 
were  forgotten  at  the  Court  of  Louis  XVIIL,  and  the  marquis, 
ruined  by  the  Revolution,  lived  in  retirement  at  Alengon  in 
an  old  gabled  house  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  him, 
but  which  had  been  sold  as  nationalized  land  and  redeemed 
by  the  devoted  notary  Chesnel  for  his  master,  as  also  certain 
portions  of  his  other  estates.  The  Marquis  d'Esgrigon,  al- 
though not  an  emigre,  had  been  obliged  to  hide  himself. 
He  took  part  in  the  struggle  of  the  Vendeans  against  the 
Republic,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Royalist  committee  of 
Alengon.  In  1800,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  in  order  to  continue 
his  race,  he  married  Mile,  de  Nouastre,  who  died  in  child- 
bed, leaving  the  marquis  an  only  son.  M.  d'Esgrignon  was  in 
total  ignorance  of  this  boy's  escapades,  which  were  glossed 

*  On  the  site  where  once  stood  the  famous  bal  Mabille,  which  has  been 
demolished  for  over  four  years,  there  has  been  built  a  fine  house  inhabited 
at  this  writing  [December,  1896]  by  Professor  Germain  S6e. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  159 

over  by  Chesnel  [The  Chouans,  ^ — The  Collection  of  An- 
tiquities, a€C\. 

Esgrignon,  Madame  d',  nee  Nouastre,  of  the  purest  and 
most  noble  blood,  married  at  twenty-two,  in  1800,  to  the 
Marquis  Carol  d'Esgrignon,  a  quinquagenarian.  She  died 
shortly  after  giving  birth  to  an  only  son.  "  In  her  were  re- 
vived the  now  imaginary  graces  of  the  feminine  figures  of  the 
sixteenth  century;  she  was  the  prettiest  of  human  beings" 
[The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\. 

Esgrignon,  Victurnien,  Comte,  then  Marquis  d',  only 
son  of  the  above  and  the  marquis  her  husband ;  born  about 
1800,  at  Alengon.  He  was  beautiful  and  intelligent;  raised 
by  his  aunt  Armande  d'Esgrignon  with  indulgence  and  ex- 
treme kindness,  he  abandoned  all  her  innocent  sophistries  for 
the  open  egoism  of  the  age.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
had  wasted  eighty  thousand  francs,  without  either  his  father's 
or  aunt's  knowledge,  the  devoted  Chesnel  paying  all.  Young 
d'Esgrignon  was  urged  on  his  willful  way  by  an  accomplice  of 
his  own  age,  Fabien  du  Ronceret,  a  perfidious  flatterer,  who 
was  paid  by  M.  du  Croisier.  About  1823  Victurnien  cje 
Esgrignon  was  sent  to  Paris;  by  ill-luck  he  fell  into  the 
society  of  the  Parisian  roues,  Marsay,  Ronquerolles,  Trailles, 
Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  Vandenesse,  Ajuda-Pinto,  Beaudenord, 
Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon,  and  Manerville,  all  of  whom  he 
met  at  the  houses  of  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  the  Duchesses 
de  Grandlieu,  de  Carigliano,  and  de  Chaulieu ;  beside  those 
of  the  Marquises  d'Aiglemont  and  de  Listomere,  and  Mme. 
Firmiani,  and  the  Comtesse  de  Serizy,  at  the  opera  and  the 
ambassadors  he  was  welcomed  for  his  noble  name  and  his 
seeming  great  fortune.  He  soon  became  the  Duchesse  de 
Maufrigneuse's  lover ;  she  ruined  him  and  he  ended  by  forging 
a  note  to  the  prejudice  of  M.  du  Croisier  for  one  hundred 
thousand  francs.  Taken  by  his  aunt  in  all  haste  to  Alengon, 
he  was  with  much  trouble  saved  from  judicial  censure. 
Following  this  he  fought  a  duel  with  M.  du  Croisier,  whom 


160  COMPENDIUM 

he  dangerously  wounded  ;  notwithstanding  this  Victurnien 
d'Esgrignon  married  Mile.  Duval,  the  niece  of  the  old  con- 
tractor, soon  after  the  death  of  his  father.  He  might  as  well 
not  have  had  a  wife,  for  he  led  the  jovial  life  of  a  bachelor 
[The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa — Letters  of  Two  Brides,  IT]. 
According  to  Marguerite  Turquet,  "that  little  d'Esgrignon 
had  been  well  rinsed  out  "  by  Antonia  [A  Man  of  Business,  V\. 
In  1832  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  declared  at  Mme.  d'Espard's, 
before  a  numerous  company,  that  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan 
(Mme.  de  Maufrigneuse)  was  a  dangerous  woman.  "My 
disgraceful  marriage  is  entirely  owing  to  her,"  added  he 
[The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z\.  In  1838 
Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  assisted  with  the  artists,  lorettes,  and 
men  about  town  at  the  inauguration  of  the  mansion  given  to 
Josepha  Mirah  by  the  Due  d'Herouville,  Rue  de  la  Ville- 
r  Eveque.  The  young  marquis  had  been  Josepha's  lover  before, 
but  he  had  again  taken  her,  this  time  from  Baron  Hulot 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Esgrignon,  Marie-Armande-Claire  d',  born  about  1775, 
sister  of  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon,  aunt  of  Victurnien  d'Es- 
grignon, and  to  whom  she  filled  the  place  of  his  mother  with 
the  tenderest  care.  In  his  old  age  her  father  had  married  for 
his  second  wife  the  young  daughter  of  a  farmer-general  of 
taxes,  ennobled  by  Louis  XIV.  ;  she  was  born  of  this  union, 
which  was  looked  upon  as  a  horrible  mesalliance,  and,  although 
the  marquis  dearly  loved  her,  he  looked  upon  her  as  a 
stranger.  He  wept  one  day  on  recognizing  her  and  said, 
over  a  grave  event:  "You  are  an  Esgrignon,  my  sister." 
Emile  Blondet,  brought  up  at  Alengon,  knew  and  loved  Mile. 
Armande,  as  a  child,  and  later  he  often  spoke  of  her  beauty 
and  virtues.  She  refused  out  of  devotion  to  her  nephew  to 
marry  M.  de  la  Roche-Guyon  and  the  Chevalier  de  Valois ; 
she  also  repulsed  M.  du  Bousquier.  She  gave  great  and  con- 
stant proofs  of  her  maternal  affection  for  Victurnien,  especially 
at  the  time  when,  in  Paris,  he  committed  the  crime  which 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  161 

might  have  placed  him  in  the  criminal  dock  of  the  Assize 
Court  only  for  the  skillful  work  of  Chesnel.  She  survived 
her  brother :  ''  Had  she  not  outlived  her  creed  and  the  beliefs 
that  had  been  destroyed?"  About  the  middle  of  Louis- 
Philippe's  reign  Blondet  went  to  Alengon  to  look  up  the 
papers  necessary  for  his  marriage,  and  could  not  contemplate 
that  noble  figure  without  emotion  [Jealousies  of  a  Country 
Town,  AA\ 

Espard,  Charles-Maurice-Marie-Andoche,  Comte  de 
Negrepelisse,  Marquis  d'  ;  born  in  the  latter  part  of  1788. 
A  Negrepelisse  by  name,  he  was  of  an  old  Southern  family 
which  assumed,  by  a  marriage  under  Henri  IV.,  the  estates 
and  titles  of  the  family  d'Espard,  du  Beam,  which  was  also  a 
connection  of  the  house  d'Albret.  The  device  on  the  blazon 
of  the  Espards  was  :  Des  partem  ieonis.  The  Negrepelisses, 
militant  Catholics,  were  ruined  at  the  epoch  of  the  religious 
wars,  but  were  afterward  considerably  enriched  by  the  spolia- 
tion of  a  family  of  protestant  merchants,  the  Jeanrenauds,  the 
head  of  which  had  been  hanged  on  the  revocation  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes.  These  wrongfully  acquired  lands  had  marvelously 
increased  in  value  to  the  benefit  of  the  Negrepelisse-d'Espards; 
the  grandfather  of  the  marquis  was  able,  thanks  to  his  fortune, 
to  marry  a  Navarreins-Lansac,  a  very  rich  heiress,  her  father 
being  a  Grandlieu  of  the  younger  branch.  The  Marquis 
d'Espard  married,  in  181 2,  Mile,  de  Blamont-Chauvry,  then 
sixteen  years  old ;  by  her  he  had  two  sons,  but  discord  soon 
arose  between  the  couple.  By  her  foolish  lavishness  Mme. 
d'Espard  compelled  the  marquis  to  borrow  largely,  and  he 
left  her  in  1816.  With  his  children  he  was  located  at  No.  22 
Rue  de  la  Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve,  in  the  old  Duperron 
hotel,*  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  education  of  his  sons 
and  the  composition  of  a  great  work:  ''The  Picturesque  His- 
tory of  China,"   from  the  profits  of  which,  added  to  the 

*  This  house  has  disappeared,  being  razed  for  the  opening  of  the  Rue 
des  Ecoles. 
11 


162  COMPENDIUM 

savings  acquired  during  his  austere  life,  he  hoped  to  make 
restitution  in  twelve  years  to  the  heirs  of  the  executed  Jean- 
renaud  of  eleven  hundred  thousand  francs,  which  represented 
the  value  of  the  estates  acquired  from  them  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  confiscated  from  their  grandfather.  This 
*' Picturesque  History  of  China"  was  written,  so  it  was  said, 
in  collaboration  with  Abbe  Crozier ;  the  financial  results  were 
also  shared  by  a  ruined  friend,  M.  de  Nouvion.  In  1828  Mme. 
d'Espard  tried  to  have  an  interdiction  placed  on  her  husband, 
and  opposed  the  marquis'  noble  conduct,  but  he  defended  it, 
and  was  declared  by  the  court  to  be  in  full  possession  of  his 
faculties  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c].  Lucien  de  Rubem- 
pre,  who  was  told  by  the  attorney-general,  Granville,  of  this 
affair,  was  undoubtedly  no  stranger  to  the  fact  of  a  judgment 
having  been  rendered  in  favor  of  M.  d'Espard  ;  but  he  only 
by  this  brought  down  upon  him  the  hate  of  the  marquise  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z\ 

Espard,  Camille,  Vicomte  d*,  second  son  of  the  Marquis 
d'Espard;  born  in  1815  ;  with  his  elder  brother,  Comte 
Clement  de  Negrepelisse,  he  was  a  student  at  the  college  of 
Henri  IV.;  in  1828  he  was  a  rhetorician  [The  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  c\. 

Espard,  Chevalier  d',  the  Marquis  d'Espard's  brother; 
he  wished  to  see  an  interdiction  granted,  and  hoped  to  be 
nominated  the  curator  of  his  estate ;  his  face  was  thin  as  a 
knife-blade,  and  his  manner  cold  and  harsh.  According  to 
Judge  Popinot,  he  had  a  look  of  Cain.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  profound  persons  in  the  Marquise  d'Espard's  salon  and 
"half  the  policy"  of  that  woman  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y 
— The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^. 

Espard,  Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais  de  Blamont- 
Chauvry,  Marquise  d'  ;  born  in  1795;  wife  of  the  Marquis 
d'Espard  ;  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  houses  of  the  faubourg 
Saint-Germain.  Deserted  by  her  husband  in  1816,  at  twenty- 
two,  she  became  the  mistress  of  herself  and  her  fortune,  which 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE  163 

consisted  of  an  income  of  twenty-six  thousand  francs.  At 
this  time  she  lived  a  retired  life;  then,  in  1820,  she  put  in  an 
appearance  at  the  Court,  gave  fetes,  and  took  steps  to  become 
a  woman  of  the  world.  She  was  now  seated  ''on  the  throne 
upon  which  so  brilliantly  had  sat  the  Vicomtesse  de  Beauseant, 
the  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  and  Mme.  Firmiani,  who  after  her 
marriage  had  resigned  the  sceptre  into  the  hands  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse,  who  had  been  plucked  up  by  Mme. 
d'Espard."  Cold,  egotistical,  and  a  coquette,  she  possessed 
neither  hate  nor  love ;  she  treated  everybody  with  the  like 
profound  indifference.  She  moved  but  little;  from  the  scien- 
tists she  had  processes  to  preserve  her  beauty;  she  never 
wrote,  but  spoke;  she  remarked  that  two  words  from  a  woman 
were  sufficient  to  kill  three  men.  Many  times  when  in  argu- 
ment she  had  made  epigrams  on  the  deputies,  peers,  and  the 
courts  that  made  the  rounds  of  Europe.  Among  men  she  was 
still  young  in  1828,  and  seemed  to  belong  to  the  future;  when 
they  were  present  at  her  drawing-rooms  she  always  noticed 
Messrs.  de  Marsay,  de  Ronquerolles,  de  Montriveau,  Martial 
de  la  Roche-Hugon,  de  Serizy,  Ferraud,  Maxime  de  Trailles, 
Listomere,  the  two  Vandenesses,  Sixte  du  Chdtelet,  and  the 
two  famous  bankers  Nucingen  and  du  Tillet.  Mme.  d'Espard 
lived  at  No.  104  Rue  du  Faubourg  Saint-Honore  [The  Com- 
mission in  Lunacy,  c].  She  was  a  superb  Celimene.  She 
displayed  much  prudence  and  severity  when  she  separated 
from  her  husband,  and  society  was  unable  to  penetrate  the 
secret  of  their  parting.  She  was  surrounded  by  the  Navar- 
reins,  the  Blamont-Chauvrys,  and  the  Lenoncourts,  her  rela- 
tives; and  was  visited  by  women  of  the  highest  rank.  A 
cousin  of  Mme.  de  Bargeton,  whom  she  reclaimed  when  she 
arrived  in  Paris  from  Angouleme  in  1821,  she  was  her  guide 
in  Paris,  and  initiated  her  into  all  the  secrets  of  fashionable 
life  and  drew  her  away  from  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  Soon 
after,  while  the  ''Distinguished  Provincial "  was  still  a  par- 
venu, she  had  him  received  into  high  society  through  Mme, 


164  COMPENDIUM 

de  Montcornet,  and  enlisted  him  in  the  Royalist  party  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iMT].  In  1824  she  is  found 
at  an  opera-ball,  whither  she  had  been  brought  by  an  anony- 
mous note,  and  where,  on  the  arm  of  Sixte  du  Chatelet,  she 
came  face  to  face  with  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  whose  beauty 
struck  her;  but  he  appeared  not  to  recognize  her.  The  poet 
took  revenge  for  her  old  disdain  by  quilps,  and  Jacques  Collin 
(Vautrin),  masked,  caused  the  marquise  much  uneasiness  by 
making  her  believe  that  Lucien  was  the  author  of  the  note 
and  that  he  was  her  lover  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\  The 
Chaulieus  were  in  frequent  communication  with  her  at  the 
time  when  their  daughter  Louise  had  as  a  lover  the  Baron  de 
Macumer  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  In  spite  of  the  mute 
opposition  of  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain,  after  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1830,  the  marquise  did  not  close  her  salon;  she  was 
unwilling  to  renounce  her  influence  over  Paris ;  at  this  time 
she  was  intimate  with  one  or  two  women  of  her  world  and 
with  Mile,  des  Touches  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  l\  She 
received  on  Wednesdays.  In  1833  she  attended  a  soiree  at 
the  house  of  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  where  de  Marsay  re- 
vealed the  secret  of  the  abduction  of  Senator  Malin  in  1806 
[A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\  In  spite  of  the  cruel  words 
spoken  against  her  by  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  the  Princesse 
de  Cadignan  told  Daniel  d'Arthez  that  the  marquise  was  her 
best  friend  ;  at  the  same  time  she  was  a  relation  of  hers  [The 
Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ;^].  Out  of  jealousy  for 
Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  Mme.  d'Espard  encouraged  the 
incipient  relations  of  that  young  woman  with  the  poet  Nathan  ; 
she  much  wished  to  compromise  her,  for  she  considered  that 
she  was  her  rival.  In  1835  the  marquise  defended  the  vaude- 
ville against  Lady  Dudley,  who  said  it  caused  her  much  suffer- 
ing, as  for  that,  said  she,  it  was  like  Louis  XIV.  and  the 
Teniers;  Mme.  d'Espard  held  that  *^  vaudevilles  were  cer- 
tainly very  charming  comedies"  ;  she  was  much  amused  over 
it  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\     In  1840,  as  she  was  leaving  the 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  165 

Italiens,*  Mme.  d'Espard  humiliated  Mme.  de  Rochefide, 
turning  her  back  on  her;  all  the  women  imitated  her,  and 
none  took  notice  of  the  mistress  of  Calyste  du  Guenic  [Bea- 
trix, jP].  For  the  rest,  the  Marquise  d'Espard  was  one  of  the 
most  impertinent  persons  of  her  age ;  but  her  house,  as  was 
said  by  an  old  academician,  was  "  the  palace  of  the  re- 
nowned "  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DX>]. 

Estival,  Abbe  d',  a  provincial  priest,  a  Lenten  preacher  in 
1840  at  the  church  of  Saint- Jacques  du  Haut-Pas,  Paris.  Theo- 
dose  de  la  Peyrade  told  Mme.  Colleville  that  he  had  vowed 
through  predilection  to  labor  in  the  interest  of  the  poorer 
classes  ;  by  his  unction  and  intelligence  he  redeemed  a  but 
little  agreeable  exterior  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Estorade,  Baron,  then  Comte  de  l',  a  little  gentleman 
of  Provence,  father  of  Louis  de  V  Estorade ;  a  very  Christian 
and  miserly  old  man  who  hoarded  up  for  his  son.  He  lost 
his  wife  about  1814;  she  died  of  grief  that  her  son  did  not 
come  and  at  not  having  had  any  news  of  him  since  the  battle 
of  Leipsic.  M.  de  1' Estorade  was  an  excellent  grandfather. 
He  died  at  the  end  of  1826  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Estorade,  Louis,  Chevalier,  then  Vicomte  and  Comte 
DE  l',  a  peer  of  France,  president  in  the  Chamber  of  the 
Court  of  Accounts,  grand  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor; 
born  in  1787;  son  of  the  preceding.  After  being  for  a  long 
time  withdrawn  from  the  conscription  under  the  Empire,  he 
was  at  length  sent  to  the  army  in  1813,  and  served  in  the  Guard 
of  Honor.  At  Leipsic  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Russians  and 
did  not  return  to  France  until  the  Restoration.  He  suffered 
terribly  in  Siberia ;  at  thirty-seven  he  looked  fifty.  Pallid, 
lean,  taciturn,  and  rather  deaf,  he  had  much  resemblance  to  the 
Knight  of  the  Rueful  Countenance.  He  had  a  fancy  for 
Renee  de  Maucombe,  who,  in  1824,  he  in  fact  married  with- 
out a  portion.  Urged  on  by  his  wife  he  became  ambitious; 
he  left  Crampade,  his  Provencal  domain,  and,  although  a 
*  Then  in  the  Salle  de  I'Odeon. 


166  COMPENDIUAf 

very  ordinary  man,  attained  the  highest  political  offices 
and  positions  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  V — The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  Dl>]. 

Estorade,  Madame  de  l',  born  in  1809,  Renee  de  Mau- 
combe,  of  a  very  ancient  Provencal  family,  established  in  the 
Gemenos  valley,  twenty  kilometres  from  Marseilles.  She  was 
brought  up  in  a  convent  of  the  Carmellitesat  Blois,  and  there 
knew  Louise  de  Chaulieu ;  the  two  friends  remained  constant 
to  each  other;  they  exchanged  a  long  correspondence  with 
each  other,  during  a  great  number  of  years,  on  life,  love,  and 
marriage,  in  which  the  sage  Renee  gave  the  passionate  Louise 
good  and  prudent  counsel.  In  1836  Mme.  de  1' Estorade 
hastened  to  the  provinces  to  attend  the  last  moments  of  her 
friend,  then  become  Mme.  Marie  Gaston.  Married  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  when  she  was  just  come  from  the  convent, 
Renee  de  Maucombe  bore  her  husband  three  children  ;  these 
she  loved  as  she  had  never  loved  him  ;  she  devoted  her  life  to 
her  maternal  duties  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v].  In  1838-39 
the  quietude  of  this  sage  person  was  disturbed  by  her  meeting 
with  Dorlange-Sallenauve  ;  she  thought  she  might  desire  him 
and  defended  her  secret  penchant  for  that  man.  She  re- 
sembled, like  a  sister,  Marianina  de  Lanty.  Both  had  in  fact 
the  same  father,  M.  de  Maucombe,  but  Marianina  was  the 
legitimate  daughter  of  M.  de  Lanty  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  X)J>].  In  1841,  Mme.  de  I'Estorade  said  of  M.  and 
Mme.  Savinien  de  Portenduere :  "  They  are  the  prettiest  and 
handsomest  couple  I  have  ever  seen  "  [Ursule  Mirouet,  ff  ]. 

Estorade,  Armand  de  l',  eldest  son  of  M.  and  Mme. 
de  I'Estorade;  godson  of  Louise  de  Chaulieu,  successively 
Baronne  de  Macumer  and  Mme.  Marie  Gaston.  Born  De- 
cember, 1825.  He  studied  in  the  college  of  Henri  IV.  He 
was  not  liked  by  Sallenauve  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v]. 

Estorade,  Ren^  de  l',  M.  and  Mme.  de  I'Estorade's 
second  child.  He  is  spoken  of  in  his  childhood  as  being  bold 
and  adventurous ;  he  had  an  iron  will,  and  his  mother  was 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  167 

convinced  that  he  would  make  ''  the  most  cunning  sailor  in  the 
world  "  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Estorade,  Jeanne- Athenais  de  l',  daughter  and  third 
child  of  M.  and  Mme  de  I'Estorade.  She  was  generally- 
called  by  the  abbreviation  of  *'Nais." 

Estourny,  Charles  d',  the  name  of  a  young  man  of  fash- 
ion, Paris,  who  went  to  Havre,  under  the  Restoration,  to  see 
the  ocean  ;  he  was  received  by  the  Mignon  family  and  ran 
away  with  Bettina-Caroline,  the  eldest  daughter.  He  after- 
ward deserted  her,  and  she  died  of  grief.  In  1827  Charles 
d'Estourny  was  convicted  by  the  police  of  continually  cheat- 
ing at  play  [Modeste  Mignon,  lSi\  A  Georges-Marie  Des- 
tourny,  called  Georges  d'Estourny,  was  the  son  of  a  bailiff  at 
Boulcnge,  near  Paris,  and  was  without  doubt  the  same  man 
as  Charles  d'Estourny,  who  was  for  a  short  time  Esther  van 
Gobseck's  (la  Torpille)  protector.  He  was  born  about  1801, 
and,  after  receiving  a  brilliant  education,  was  by  his  father 
left  without  any  resources  ;  he  was  compelled  to  sell  his  posi- 
tion under  bad  conditions.  Georges  d'Estourny  speculated 
on  the  Bourse  with  the  money  of  women  who  had  confidence 
in  him.  After  his  conviction,  he  left  Paris  without  paying  the 
different  accounts.  He  was  employed  by  Cerizet,  and  after- 
ward became  his  partner  in  the  same  business.  He  was  a 
pretty  bachelor,  a  hail-fellow-well-met,  and  as  generous  as  a 
robber-chief.  Bixiou,  by  reason  of  his  trickeries,  and  at  the 
time  he  was  before  the  court,  nicknamed  him  "  Tricks  at 
Cards"  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y — A  Man  of  Business,^]. 

Etienne  &  Co.,  merchants  at  Paris  under  the  Empire. 
They  had  dealings  with  the  Guillaumes,  dry  goods  dealers. 
Rue  Saint-Denis,  who  foresaw  their  failure  and  listened  "with 
anxiety,  as  if  at  the  play"  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and 
Racket,  f]. 

Eugene,  a  Corsican,  colonel  of  the  sixth  regiment  of  the 
line,  almost  entirely  composed  of  Italians,  who  first  entered 
Tarragone  in  1808.     Colonel  Eugene,  a  second  Murat,  was  of 


168  COMPENDIUM 

extraordinary  bravery ;  his  regiment  was  formed  of  a  species 
of  bandits  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Eugenie,  the  Christian  pseudonym  of  Prudence  Servien. 
See  the  last  named. 

Euphrasie,  a  courtesan  of  Paris,  under  the  Restoration 
and  in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe.  A  pretty  and  graceful 
blonde  with  blue  eyes  and  a  melodious  voice,  a  very  candid 
manner,  but  profoundly  depraved,  and  an  expert  in  refined 
vices;  in  1821  she  gave  the  notary  Crottat's  second  clerk  a 
hideous  complaint  from  which  he  died.  She  lived  at  that 
time  on  the  Rue  Feydeau.  Euphrasie  pretended  that  in  her 
early  youth  she  had  passed  whole  days  and  nights  in  learning 
love,  which  had  been  left  her  as  a  heritage.  With  the  bru- 
nette Aquilina,  Euphrasie  took  part  in  a  famous  orgie  at  the 
house  of  Frederic  Taillefer,  Rue  Joubert,  in  company  with 
Emile  Blondet,  Rastignac,  Bixiou,  and  Raphael  de  Valentin. 
She  is  later  seen  at  the  Italiens  theatre  with  the  .centenarian 
antiquarian  who  sold  Raphael  the  celebrated  ''  Wild  Ass' 
Skin  ;  "  she  consumed  the  old  merchant's  treasures  [Melmoth 
Reconciled,  cf  — The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\ 

Europe,  the  name  assumed  by  Prudence  Servien.  See 
the  last  name. 

Evangelista,  Madame,  nee  Casa-Real  in  1781,  of  a  great 
Spanish  family  collaterally  descended  from  the  Due  d'Albe  and 
allied  to  the  Claes  of  Douai ;  a  creole  who  went  to  Bordeaux 
in  1800  with  her  husband,  a  great  Spanish  financier.  She 
was  a  widow  in  1813,  her  daughter  living  with  her.  She  was 
in  utter  ignorance  of  the  value  of  money  and  never  resisted 
any  of  her  caprices.  One  morning,  in  1821,  she  called  in 
the  broker-expert,  Elie-Magus,  to  make  an  estimate  on  her 
magnificent  diamonds,  in  the  midst  of  which  figured  a  certain 
**discreto,"  a  superb  stone,  old  and  historical.  Tired  of  a 
provincial  life  she  favored  the  marriage  of  her  daughter  to 
Paul  de  Manerville,  in  order  to  follow  the  young  household 
to  Paris,  whither  she  went  with  a  great  equipage  and  again 


COMAdiE  HUMAINE.  169 

exercised  her  power.  She  was  very  astute  in  settling  the 
arrangements  for  the  marriage,  when  her  notary,  Maitre  Sol- 
onet,  was  brought  to  the  point  of  wishing  to  marry  her,  and 
fought  with  heat  against  Maitre  Mathias,  Manerville's  scriv- 
ener. To  all  appearance  she  was  an  excellent  woman  ;  she 
knew,  though,  like  Catherine  de  Medicis,  how  to  hate  and 
wait  [A  Marriage  Settlement,  ad\. 

Evangelista,  Natalie,  daughter  of  Mme.  Evangelista; 
married  to  Paul  de  Manerville.     See  that  name. 

Evelina,  a  noble  young  woman,  wealthy  and  well  brought 
up ;  of  a  very  austere  Jansenist  family ;  a  friend  of  and  sought 
in  marriage  by  Benassis,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Restora- 
tion. Evelina  responded  to  the  love  of  Benassis,  but  her 
parents  opposed  the  union  of  the  young  people.  Becoming 
free,  Evelina  died,  and  the  doctor  did  not  long  survive  her 
[The  Country  Doctor,  C]. 


Faille  &  Bouchet,  Parisian  perfumers,  who  failed  in 
1818.  They  had  ordered  ten  thousand  phials  of  an  absurd 
shape  which  Anselme  Popinot  bought  at  four  sous  each  on  six 
months,  with  the  intention  of  filling  them  with  ''cephalic 
oil,"  invented  by  Cesar  Birotteau  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Falcon,  Jean,  called  Beaupied,  or  oftener  Beau-Pied,  a 
sergeant  in  the  72d  demi-brigade,  in  1799,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel  Hulot.  Jean  Falcon  was  the  butt  of  his 
company ;  he  was  then  serving  in  the  artillery  [The  Chou- 
ans,  J5].  In  1808,  still  under  Hulot's  command,  it  formed 
part  of  the  Spanish  army  and  of  the  troops  commanded  by 
Murat ;  in  that  year  he  was  a  witness  to  the  death  of  the 
French  surgeon,  Bega,  who  was  assassinated  by  a  Spaniard 
[Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\  In  1841  he  was  his  old 
colonel's  factotum,  now  become  marshal ;  he  served  him 
thirty  years  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 


170  COMPENDIUM 

Falcon,  Marie- Cornelie,  a  celebrated  cantatrice  of  the 
opera;  born  at  Paris,  January  28,  1812.  On  July  20,  1832, 
she  made  her  debut  with  eclat,  in  the  part  of  Alice,^  in 
**  Robert  the  Devil,"  and  later  created  with  equal  success 
"Rachael  the  Jewess "  and  Valentin  in  the  "Huguenots." 
In  1836  Conti,  the  composer,  declared  to  Calyste  du  Guenic 
that  he  was  rendered  crazy  by  this  singer,  "  the  most  beautiful 
and  the  youngest  of  her  day  ;"  he  wished  to  marry  her,  he 
said,  but  it  is  probable  that  this  talk  was  only  to  the  end  of 
annoying  Calyste,  who  was  in  love  with  the  Marquise  de 
Rochefide,  and  of  whom  at  that  time  the  musician  was  the 
lover  [Beatrix,  J*].  Cornelie  Falcon  disappears  from  the 
stage  in  1840,  after  a  celebrated  soiree,  when  before  a  deeply 
affected  public  she  wept  her  voice  away.  She  was  married  to 
a  financier,  M.  Malengon  ;  she  is  now  a  grandmother.  Ma- 
dame Falcon's  name  has,  in  the  provinces,  been  given  to 
designate  "soprani"  tragic  singers.  "La  Vierge  de  1' Opera," 
an  interesting  recital  by  M.  Emmanuel  Gonzales,  contains, 
we  are  told,  certain  episodes  in  her  life. 

Falleix,  Martin,  Auvergnat,  a  copper-founder,  Rue  du 
Faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  Paris;  born  about  1796;  he  went 
from  the  provinces  to  Paris  with  his  caldron  on  his  back.  Pa- 
tronized by  Bidault,  called  Gigonnet,  who  lent  him  money  at 
a  high  rate  of  interest,  he  was  by  that  usurer  introduced  to 
Saillard,  a  cashier  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  and  who  with  his 
savings  helped  him  start  a  foundry.  At  the  exposition  of 
1824  Martin  Failleix  obtained  the  gold  medal  for  an  invention 
of  his.  Mme.  Baudoyer  undertook  this  man's  education,  and 
intended  him  for  her  son-in-law;  on  his  part  he  was  engaged 
in  advancing  the  interests  of  his  future  father-in-law  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc\.  About  1826  he  discussed  on  the  Bourse  with  du 
Tillet,  Werbrust,  and  Claparon,  the  third  liquidation  of  Baron 
de  Nucingen,  which  definitely  founded  the  fortune  of  the 
celebrated  Alsacian  banker  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 
*  Really  created  by  Madame  Dorus-Gras,  who  is  still  living. 


COMtDIE  HUMAINE.  171 

Falleix,  Jacques,  brother  of  the  preceding ;  stockbroker, 
one  of  the  most  wily  and  wealthy;  successor  to  Jules  Desma- 
rets,  Rue  St.  Georges,*  broker  and  stockbroker  to  the  firm  of 
Nucingen.  He  had  a  **  little  house"  at  that  address  very 
elegantly  furnished  for  his  mistress,  Mme.  du  Val-Noble. 
The  victim  of  one  of  Nucingen's  liquidations,  he  failed  in 
1829  [Les  Employes,  CC — Ferragus,  hh — The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, Y]. 

Fanchette,  a  servant  in  the  house  of  Doctor  Rouget, 
Issoudun,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  a  fat  woman 
of  Berri,  who,  before  la  Cognette,  was  reputed  to  be  the  best 
cook  in  the  town  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7]. 

Fanjat,  a  physician  and  something  of  an  alienist,  uncle 
of  Comtesse  Stephanie  de  Vandieres,  who  was  thought  to  have 
perished  in  the  disastrous  Russian  campaign  ;  after  his  return 
he  met  her,  insane,  near  Strasbourg,  in  1816.  He  had  her 
taken  in  the  vicinity  of  I'lsle-Adam,  Seine-et-Oise,  to  an  old 
convent  of  the  Bons-Hommes,  there  he  tended  her  with  a 
tender  solicitude,  but  had  the  sorrow  of  seeing  her  die,  in 
1819,  during  a  tragic  scene  in  which,  as  by  a  blow,  she  re- 
covered her  reason  and  recognized  her  old  lover,  Philippe  de 
Sucy,  whom  she  had  not  seen  since  1812  [Farewell,  e\. 

Fanny,  an  old  servant  in  the  service  of  Lady  Brandon  at 
la  Grenadiere,f  under  the  Restoration.  She  was  her  *'  mis- 
tress' eyes"  and  worshiped  her;  after  her  death  she  took  her 
two  children  to  a  cousin  of  hers  at  Tours,  on  the  Rue  Guer- 
clie,  therej  lived  with  them  until  the  eldest  joined  the  navy, 
leaving  the  youngest  to  go  to  college  under  Fanny's  charge, 
and  left  with  her  the  whole  of  his  inheritance  [La  Grena- 
didre,/]. 

*  Part  of  that  street  is  comprised  between  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare  and  the 
Place  Saint-Georges,  called,  up  to  185 1,  the  Rue  Neuve-Saint-Georges. 

f  According  to  our  friend  Renault,  of  the  journal  "  Le  Balzac,"  la 
Grenadi^re  is  still  in  existence. 

\  Now  the  Rue  Marceau. 


172  COMPENDIUM 

Fanny,  a  romantic  young  girl,  the  only  daughter  of  a 
banker  at  Paris.  One  evening  in  her  father's  house  she  asked 
Bavarois  Hermann  to  *'tell  us  another  dreadful,  thrilling 
story."  She  innocently  brought  up  the  death  of  Frederic 
Taillefer,  who  had  been  guilty,  while  she  was  still  a  girl,  of 
unknowingly  assassinating  a  merchant,  and  the  story  of  which 
was  told  before  her  by  the  stranger  [The  Red  House,  c^]. 

Fario,  an  old  Spaniard,  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Issoudun, 
under  the  Empire.  After  the  peace  he  remained  in  the 
country,  where  he  did  a  small  trade  in  grain.  He  was  a  native 
of  Grenada  and  had  been  a  peasant.  He  was  the  butt  of  the 
greatest  rascals  in  that  section,  the  '*  Knights  of  Idlesse,"  and 
he  avenged  himself  by  stabbing  their  chief,  Maxence  Gilet. 
This  attempted  assassination  was  for  a  time  imputed  to  Joseph 
Bridau.  Fario  ended  by  obtaining  full  satisfaction  of  his  in- 
stinctive vindictiveness  by  seeing  his  adversary  fall  in  a  duel, 
mortally  wounded,  at  the  hands  of  Philippe  Bridau ;  Gilet  had 
already  been  demoralized  by  the  presence  of  the  grain  dealer 
on  the  field  of  combat  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7]. 

Farrabesche,  an  old  convict,  one  of  the  keepers  on 
Mme.  Graslin's  estate  at  Montegnac,  under  Louis-Philippe; 
of  an  old  Correze  family.  Born  about  1791,  and  had  had  an 
elder  brother  who  was  killed  at  Montebello,  in  1800;  a  cap- 
tain at  twenty-two,  by  his  heroic  death  he  saved  Consul  Bona- 
parte's army;  another  brother  died  while  a  sergeant  of  the 
first  regiment  of  the  Guards,  at  Austerlitz,  in  1805.  Farra- 
besche, himself,  had  been  on  the  point  of  entering  the  ser- 
vice, but  at  the  time  he  was  about  being  called  on  he  fled  to 
the  forest.  He  affiliated  with  the  Chauffeurs,  was  accused  of 
numerous  assassinations,  and  condemned  to  death  for  con- 
tumacy. At  the  instance  of  Abbe  Bonnet,  he  surrendered 
himself  at  the  commencement  of  the  Restoration  and  was 
sent  to  the  hulks,  whence  he  returned  after  serving  ten  years,  in 
1827.  In  April,  1830,  he  was  rehabilitated  and  his  citizen- 
ship restored ;  he  married   Catherine  Curieux,  by  whom  he 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  173 

had  had  a  child.  Abbe  Bonnet  and  Mme.  Graslin  were  the 
benefactors  and  counselor  of  Farrabesche  [The  Country  Par- 
son, F\ 

Farrabesche,  Madame,  nee  Catherine  Curieux,  about 
1798.  The  daughter  of  tenants  of  the  Messrs.  Brezac  at 
Vizay,  the  most  important  market-town  in  Correze ;  Farra- 
besche's  mistress  in  the  last  days  of  the  Empire ;  by  him  she 
had  a  son  when  she  was  seventeen  years  old;  she  was  soon 
separated  from  her  lover,  who  was  sent  to  the  hulks,  from 
whence  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  she  was  at  that  time  in 
service.  In  this  last  place  she  was  the  servant  of  an  old 
woman,  whom  she  treated  with  every  care  and  devotion,  but 
who  died  and  left  her  nothing.  In  1833  ^^^  returned  to  her 
own  country  after  leaving  the  hospital,  where  she  had  been 
cured  of  an  illness  brought  on  by  overwork,  but  she  still  re- 
mained very  weak ;  at  this  time  she  married  her  old  lover. 
Catherine  Curieux  was  tall,  well  made,  white,  sweet,  and  re- 
fined by  her  sojourn  in  Paris,  though  she  could  neither  read 
nor  write.  Three  of  her  sisters  were  married  :  one  at  Aubus- 
son,  another  at  Limoges,  and  the  last  at  St.  Leonard  [The 
Country  Parson,  JP]. 

Farrabesche,  Benjamin,  son  of  Farrabesche  and  Cathe- 
rine Curieux;  born  in  1815  ;  raised  by  his  mother's  parents 
until  1827,  then  taken  again  by  his  father,  who  dearly  loved 
him,  though  his  character  was  energetic  and  savage  [The 
Country  Parson,  ^]. 

Faucombe,  Madame  de,  sister  of  Mme.  des  Touches  and 
aunt  of  Felicite  des  Touches  (Camille  Maupin) ;  a  nun  at 
Chelles  to  whom  Felicite  was  confided  on  her  mother's  death 
in  1793.  The  nun  took  her  niece  to  Faucombe,  a  large 
estate  near  Nantes  belonging  to  the  deceased  mother,  and 
there  she  died  of  fear  in  1794  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Faucombe,  De,  great-uncle  on  the  maternal  side  of 
Felicite  des  Touches;  born  about  1734;  died  in  1814.  He 
lived  at  Nantes,  and  was  married  in  his  old  age  to  a  young. 


174  COMPENDIUM 

frivolous  woman,  to  whom  he  abandoned  the  whole  of  his 
affairs.  A  passionate  archaeologist,  he  now  gave  attention  to 
the  education  of  his  grand-niece,  who  had  been  brought  to 
him  in  1794,  after  the  death  of  Mme.  de  Faucombe,  the 
former  nun  at  Chelles ;  in  a  way  Felicite  grew  up  to  woman- 
hood without  any  direction  being  given  to  her  studies ;  she 
read  books  that  she  selected  herself  [Beatrix,  2^]. 

Faustina,  a  young  woman  of  Argontan,  who  was  executed 
in  1813,  at  Mortagne,  for  killing  her  child.  In  1816  Suzanne, 
the  future  Mme.  du  Val- Noble,  evoked  the  memory  of  the 
**  beautiful  Faustine "  before  M.  du  Bousquier  to  obtain 
money  from  him,  on  the  pretext  that  he  was  the  cause  of  her 
being  in  the  family-way  [The  Old  Maid,  aa?^. 

Felicie,  chambermaid  of  Mme.  Diard,  Bordeaux,  in  1823 
[The  Maranas,  e]. 

Felicite,  a  fat,  ruddy,  cross-eyed  girl,  servant  of  Mme. 
Vauthier,  who  kept  a  "furnished-rooms"  house  on  the  Rue 
Notre-Dame-des-Champs  and  the  Boulevard  du  Montparnasse, 
under  Louis-Philippe  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Felix,  an  office  boy  of  Attorney-General  Granville's  in 
1830  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^\ 

Fendant,  an  old  first-clerk  of  the  Vidal  &  Porchon  firm ; 
Cavalier's  partner.  Both  were  bookseller-publisher-commis- 
sion men.  Rue  Serpente,  Paris,  about  1821.  They  had  deal- 
ings at  that  time  with  Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre.  The 
name  of  the  firm  was  properly  Fendant  &  Cavalier;  half- 
knaves,  they  passed  for  being  cunning.  The  while  Cavalier 
traveled,  Fendant,  the  slyest  of  the  two,  managed  the  business 
[x\  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iMT]. 

Ferdinand,  the  real  name  of  Ferdinand  du  Tillet. 

Ferdinand,  the  pseudonym  of  one  of  the  principal  actors 
in  the  Breton  insurrection  of  1799  5  o"^  ^^  ^^""^  companions  of 
the  Messrs.  du  Guenic,  la  Billardidre,  Fontaine,  and  Mon- 
tauran  [The  Chouans,  ^ — Beatrix,  j?]. 

Fere'dia,  Comte  Bagos  pe,  a  Spanish  prisoner  of  war  at 


COMADIE  nUMAINE.  175 

Vendome,  under  the  Empire ;  the  lover  of  Mme.  de  Merret. 
He  was  surprised  one  evening  by  the  inopportune  return  of 
her  husband  and  took  refuge  in  a  closet,  the  entrance  to  which 
was  walled  up  by  the  order  of  M.  de  Merret,  and  he  there 
heroically  died  without  giving  utterance  to  a  cry  [The  Great 
Breteche,  l\ 

Feret,  Athanase,  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  Maitre  Bordin, 
procureur  to  the  Chatelet,  in  1787  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Ferragus  XXIII.     See  Bourignard. 

Ferraro,  Comte,  an  Italian  colonel  who  had  been  known 
by  Castanier,  and  by  him  alone,  to  have  died  in  the  Zembin 
marshes,  under  the  Empire  ;  after  signing  the  bogus  bills  of 
exchange  he  intended  to  be  safe  in  Naples  as  Comte  Ferraro, 
while  they  were  ''  on  his  track  "  elsewhere  [Melmoth  Recon- 
ciled, (jC\. 

Ferraud,  Comte,  son  of  an  old  councilor  of  the  parlement 
of  Paris,  who  emigrated  under  the  Terror  and  found  himself 
ruined  by  that  event.  Born  in  1781  ;  returning  to  France 
under  the  Consulate  he  was  received  by  Napoleon,  whose 
offers  he  refused.  He  remained  constant  to  the  interests  of 
Louis  XVIII.  Of  a  graceful  appearance,  he  met  with  success 
in  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain  and  became  famed  therein. 
About  1809  he  married  the  widow  of  Colonel  Chabert,  who 
owned  an  income  of  thirty  thousand  francs ;  by  her  he  had 
two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl.  He  lived  on  the  Rue  de 
Varenne  and  had  a  beautiful  villa  in  the  valley  of  Montmor- 
ency. Under  the  Restoration  he  was  appointed  director  of 
a  ministry  and  a  councilor  of  State  [Colonel  Chabert,  ^]. 

Ferraud,  Comtesse,  nte  Rose  Chapotel,  wife  of  Comte 
Ferraud.  She  had  before  that  been  married,  under  the  Re- 
public or  at  the  beginning  of  the  Empire,  to  an  officer  called 
Hyacinthe  Chabert,  who  had  been  left  for  dead  on  the  field 
of  battle  at  Eylau,  1807,  and  who  endeavored,  in  1818,  to 
recover  his  rights  as  her  husband.  Colonel  Chabert  said  that 
he  had  picked  up  Rose  Chapotel  at  the  Palais-Royal,  in  a  bad 


176  COMPENDIUM 

house.  Under  the  Restoration  this  woman,  become  a  coun- 
tess, was  one  of  fashion's  queens  in  the  Parisian  world. 
Brought"  into  the  presence  of  her  first  husband  she  pretended 
not  to  know  him,  then,  disguising  her  hatred  of  him,  she 
cajoled  him  into  relinquishing  his  rights  [Colonel  Chabert,  i]. 
Countess  Ferraud  was  Louis  XVIII. 's  last  mistress  and 
remained  in  the  favor  of  the  Court  of  Charles  X.  In  1824 
she,  with  Mesdames  de  Listomdre,  d'Espard,  de  Camps,  and 
de  Nucingen,  was  invited  to  the  soirees  of  the  minister  of 
Finance  [Les  Employes,  cc\ 

Ferraud,  Jules,  son  of  Comte  Ferraud  and  Rose  Chapotel, 
Comtesse  Ferraud.  While  yet  a  child  he  is  found  one  day  at 
his  mother's  in  the  presence  of  Colonel  Chabert ;  when  he  saw 
his  mother  crying,  he  angrily  asked  the  officer  if  he  was  the 
cause  of  his  mother's  grief.  She  turned  her  two  children  into 
a  maternal  comedy,  which  she  played  on  the  colonel,  and 
obtained  a  successful  issue  over  the  simple  soldier  [Colonel 
Chabert,  %\. 

Fessard,  a  grocer  at  Saumur,  under  the  Restoration.  He 
supplied  the  Grandets.  One  day  he  was  astonished  at  see- 
ing Nanon,  their  servant,  buy  some  wax-candles  and  asked 
her  if  **  the  three  magi  were  staying  with  them"  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  JE^]., 

Fichet,   Mademoiselle,  the  richest  heiress  of  Issoudun, 
under  the  Restoration.     Godet  junior,  one  of  the  *' Knights 
of  Idlesse,"  loved  Mile.  Fichet's  mother,  without  the  hope, 
of  being  recompensed  for  his  drudgery  by  the  hand  of  the 
young  girl  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  eT"]. 

Fil-de-Soie,  one  of  the  malefactor  Sel^rier's  nicknames. 
See  the  last  name. 

Finot,  Andoche,  manager-editor  of  journals  and  reviews 

under  the  Restoration  and  Louis-Philippe.     Son  of  a  hatter 

on  the  Rue  du  Coq.*     Abandoned  by  his  father,  a  harsh  and 

stern  trader,  he  made  a  wretched  beginning.     He  composed 

*  Now  the  Rue  Marengo. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  177 

a  startling  prospectus  of  the  "  Cephalic  Oil  "  for  Popinot,  the 
first  of  the  announcements  inserted  in  the  press ;  he  was  in- 
vited to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau  in  December, 
1818.  Andoche  Finot  was  already  in  communication  with 
Felix  Gaudissart,  who  actually  took  hold  of  the  oil,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  little  Ansel  me,  like  a  ''courtier  at  the 
sound  of  the  bell."  He  was  seemingly  the  editor  of  the 
''  Courrier  des  Spectacles,"  and  had  a  piece  of  his  played  at 
the  Gaite  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  In  1820  he  managed  a  little 
theatrical  paper,  the  office  of  which  was  situated  on  the  Rue 
du  Sentier.  A  nephew  of  the  captain  of  dragoons,  Giroudeau, 
he  was  one  of  the  witnesses  at  Philippe  Bridau's  marriage  to 
Flore  Brazier,  the  widow  of  J.  J.  Rouget  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, J\  In  1821  Finot's  newspaper  had  on  its  staff 
Etienne  Lousteau,  Hector  Merlin,  Felicien  Vernou,  Nathan, 
F.  du  Bruel,  and  Blondet,  and  was  then  published  on  the 
Rue  Saint-Fiacre.  At  this  time  Lucien  de  Rubempre  made 
his  debut  in  journalism  by  a  remarkable  account  of  "  I'Alcade 
dans  I'embarras,"  a  piece  in  three  acts,  played  at  the  Pano- 
rama-Dramatique.  Finot's  private  residence  just  then  was  on 
the  Rue  Feydeau  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  3T\ 
In  1824  he  was  at  an  opera-ball  in  a  group  of  dandies  and 
men  of  letters  who  surrounded  Lucien  du  Rubempre,  who  was 
flirting  v/ith  Esther  Gobseck  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y].  In 
the  same  year  Finot  was  a  guest  at  a  soiree  at  Rabourdin's, 
chief  of  a  bureau,  and  was  gained  to  the  cause  of  that  func- 
tionary through  the  influence  of  his  friend  Chardin  des  Lu- 
peaulx,  who  asked  him  to  give  the  voice  of  the  press  against 
Baudoyer,  Rabourdin's  rival  [Les  Employes,  cc\.  He  was  a 
guest  at  the  breakfast  given  by  Frederic  Marest,  in  1825,  to 
celebrate  his  entrance  into  the  office  of  Desroches  the  attor- 
ney; he  was  also  at  the  orgie  at  Florine's  which  followed 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\.  Gaudissart,  in  1831,  said  of  his  friend 
Finot  that  he  had  an  income  of  thirty  thousand  francs,  and 
that  he  would  most  likely  become  a  councilor  of  State,  beside 
12 


178  COMPENDIUM 

being  nominated  a  peer  of  France ;  his  aspiration  was  to  finish 
up  as  a  '*  stockholder "  or  coupon-clipper  [Gaudissart  the 
Great,  o].  In  1836,  in  the  private  dining-room  of  a  cele- 
brated restaurant,  in  company  with  Blondet,  his  follower,  and 
Couture,  a  man  about  town,  he  heard  recited  the  financial 
rogueries  of  Nucingen,  wittily  recounted  by  Bixiou  [The  Firm 
of  Nucingen,  f\.  Finot  "hid  a  brutal  will  under  a  mild  ex- 
terior," and  his  *'  impertinent  stupidity  was  frothed  with  wit 
as  the  bread  of  a  laborer  is  rubbed  with  garlic  "  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y\ 

Firmiani,  a  respectable  quadragenarian,  married,  in  181 3, 
her  who  afterward  became  Madame  Octave  de  Camps.  He 
was  not  able,  he  said,  to  offer  her  more  than  his  name  and  his 
fortune ;  he  had  been  a  receiver-general  in  the  department  of 
Montenotte.  He  died  in  Greece,  in  1823  [Madame  Firmi- 
ani, hi. 

Firmiani,  Madame.     See  Camps,  Madame  de. 

Fischer,  the  name  of  three  brothers,  laborers  in  a  village 
situated  on  the  far  frontier  of  Lorraine,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Vosges ;  they  belonged  to  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  following 
the  Republican  requisitions.  The  first,  Pierre,  the  father  of 
Lisbeth,  called  Cousin  Betty,  was  killed,  in  1815,  in  the 
Francs-tireurs.  The  second,  Andre,  father  of  Adeline,  who 
became  Baron  Hulot's  wife,  died  at  Treves  in  1820.  The 
third,  Johann,  became  a  clerk ;  his  acts  of  extortion,  while  a 
contractor  for  provender  for  the  troops  in  Algiers,  in  Oran, 
caused  him  to  commit  suicide  in  1841.  He  was  more  than 
a  septuagenarian  when  he  killed  himself  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Fischer,  Adeline.     See  Hulot  d'Ervy,  Baronne  Hector. 

Fischer,  Lisbeth,  called  Cousin  Betty,  born  in  1796. 
Raised  a  peasant;  sacrificed  in  her  infancy  to  her  cousin- 
german,  the  pretty  Adeline,  who  was  spoiled  by  all  the 
family.  In  1809,  called  to  Paris  by  Adeline's  marriage,  she 
became  an  apprentice  to  the  celebrated  Pons  Brothers,  em- 
broiderers to  the  Imperial  Court.     She  became  a  very  skillful 


COMiDIE  HUMAINE.  179 

worker  and  was  about  to  establish  herself  in  business,  when 
the  downfall  of  the  Empire  occurred.  Lisbeth  Fischer  re- 
mained a  Republican ;  she  was  of  a  restive  disposition,  capri- 
cious, independent,  and  of  an  inexplicably  savage  nature. 
She  always  refused  to  marry,  successively  repulsing  an  employe 
in  the  war  office,  a  major,  a  provision  contractor,  a  retired 
captain,  and  a  rich  lace  dealer,  one  after  the  other.  Baron 
Hulot  nicknamed  her  ''nanny  goat."  She  lived  on  the  Rue 
du  Doyenne,^  where  she  worked  for  Rivet,  Pons'  successor ; 
she  there  came  to  know  her  neighbor,  Wenceslas  Steinbock, 
a  Livonian  exile,  who  had  been  brought  by  his  poverty  to 
commit  suicide,  but  was  saved  by  her  and  who  watched  over 
him  with  a  stringent  jealousy.  Hortense  Hulot  found  and 
succeeded  in  seeing  the  Pole ;  their  marriage  followed ; 
Cousin  Betty  apparently  concurred  in  it,  but  felt  a  deep  resent- 
ment against  the  couple,  which  she  adroitly  dissimulated, 
and  it  ended  in  a  terrible  manner.  By  her  Wenceslas  was 
introduced  to  the  irresistible  Mme.  Marneffe,  and  the  hap- 
piness of  this  household  was  destroyed.  She  did  the  like  by 
Baron  Hulot,  and  Lisbeth  in  secret  favored  his  misconduct. 
Lisbeth  Fischer  died  in  1844,  of  pulmonary  consumption, 
but  quite  as  much  by  the  chagrin  of  seeing  the  Hulot  family 
reconstituted  and  united.  The  relatives  of  the  old  maid  were 
in  total  ignorance  of  her  deep  schemes ;  they  surrounded  her 
death-bed,  cared  for  her,  and  wept  over  "  the  angel  of  the 
family."  Mile.  Fischer  died  on  the  Rue  Louis-le-Giand,  after 
having  successively  lived  in  Paris  in  the  Rues  du  Doyenne, 
Vaneau,  Plumet,f  and  Montparnasse,  where  she  looked  after 
the  household  of  Marechal  Hulot,  of  which  she  dreamed  of 
becoming  the  legitimate  mistress,  and  which  she  little  thought 
would  have  to  be  put  in  mourning  for  its  master  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Fitz- William,  Miss  Margaret,  the  daughter  of  a  noble 

*  A  street  that  the  erection  of  the  Louvre  blotted  out  about  1855. 
\  Now  the  Rue  Oudinot. 


180  COMPENDIUM 

and  wealthy  Irishman,  who  was  the  maternal  uncle  of  Calyste 
du  Guenic  and  also  cousin-german  to  that  young  man.  Mme. 
du  Guenic,  his  mother,  wished  her  son  to  marry  Miss  Margaret 
[Beatrix,  P]. 

Flamet.     See  la  Billardiere,  Flamet  de. 

Fleurant,  Mother;  she  kept  a  cafe  at  Croisic,  which  was 
frequented  by  Jacques  Cambremer  [A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e\. 

Fleuriot,  a  grenadier  in  the  Imperial  Guard,  of  a  colossal 
height,  to  whom  Philippe  de  Sucy  confided  Stephanie  de 
Vandieres,  during  the  passage  of  the  Beresina,  in  1812. 
Unfortunately  separated  from  Stephanie  the  grenadier  did  not 
find  her  again  until  1816,  in  an  inn  at  Strasbourg,  at  which  she 
had  sought  refuge,  after  having  escaped  from  an  insane  asylum; 
both  of  them  were  rescued  by  Dr.  Fanjat,  and  by  him  taken 
to  Auvergne,  where  Fleuriot  soon  after  died  [Farewell,  e\ 

Fleury,  an  old  captain  of  infantry,  comptroller  at  the 
Cirque-OIympique,  and  an  employe  under  the  Restoration  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance  in  Rabourdin's  office.  A  subscriber, 
but  a  bad  payer,  for  "  Victories  and  Conquests";  a  zealous 
Bonapartist  and  Liberal.  His  three  great  men  were  Napoleon, 
Bolivar,  and  Beranger,  of  whom  he  knew  by  heart,  and  was 
constantly  singing,  in  a  beautiful  sonorous  voice,  all  the  songs 
as  they  appeared.  He  was  loaded  with  debts.  His  skill  as  a 
fencer  and  pistol-shot  preserved  him  from  Bixiou's  jests ;  he 
was  equally  brusque  with  Dutocq,  who  basely  flattered  him. 
Fleury  was  discharged  in  December,  1824,  after  the  appoint- 
ment of  Baudoyer  as  chief  of  a  division  ;  he  was  mocked,  he 
said,  by  being  soon  after  offered  a  position  on  a  journal  as 
responsible  editor  [Les  Employes,  cc].  In  1840,  while  still 
an  employe  at  the  theatre  mentioned,  Fleury  became  manager 
of  the  "Echo  de  la  Bievre,"  a  newspaper  of  which  Thuillier 
was  the  proprietor  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Flicoteaux,  the  rival  of  .Rousseau  I'Aquatique ;  historic, 
legendary,  and  Spartan  restaurateur  in  the  Latin  quarter  be- 
tween Rues  de  la  Harpe  and  des  Gres  (Cujas),  frequented 


comAdie  HVMAINE.  181 

about  1821-22  by  Daniel  d'Arthez,  Etienne  Lousteau,  and 
Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  M\ 

Florent,  a  partner  of  Chanor's ;  both  were  manufacturers 
and  merchants  in  bronze,  Rue  des  Tournelles,  Paris,  under 
Louis-Philippe.  The  firm  was  properly  known  as  Florent  & 
Chanor  [Cousin  Betty,  w — Cousin  Pons,  x\ 

Florentine.     See  Cabirolle,  Agathe-Fiorentine. 

Florimond,  Madame,  mercer.  Rue  Vieille-du-Temple, 
Paris,  1844-45.  Kept  by  a  '*  worn-out,"  she  became  his 
heiress,  thanks  to  Fraisier,  her  man  of  business ;  she  would 
probably  have  married  him  as  an  acknowledgment  only  for 
the  terrible  infirmity  of  that  man  [Cousin  Pons,  ac]. 

Florine.     See  Nathan,  Madame  Raoul. 

Florville,  La,  an  actress  at  the  Panorama-Dramatique  in 
182 1 ;  she  there  had  as  comrades  Coralie,  Florine,  and  Bouffe 
or  Vignol.  On  the  evening  when  "  I'Alcade  dans  I'embarras  " 
had  its  first  presentation  she  played,  on  the  rise  of  the  curtain, 
in  *'  Bertram,"  a  burlesque  written  by  Raymond,  and  a  skit  on 
a  tragedy  by  Robert-Charles  Maturin,  a  romancist  and  Irish 
dramatist.  La  Florville  was  for  some  days  the  mistress  of  a 
Russian  prince,  who  kept  her  at  St.  Mande,  and,  for  having 
deprived  the  theatre  of  her  services,  paid  'a  large  sum  to  the. 
manager  as  an  indemnity  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  3l\ 

Foedora,  Comtesse;  born  about  1805,  of  Russian  origin; 
popular  and  of  marvelous  beauty;  married,  possibly  morgan- 
atically,  to  a  great  lord  of  her  nation.  Become  a  widow,  she 
reigned  in  Paris  in  1827.  People  believed  her  to  have  an 
income  of  eighty  thousand  francs.  At  her  drawing-rooms  she 
received  all  the  famous  people  of  the  epoch,  and  there  "  all 
the  romantic  productions  which  are  never  published  are 
brought  out."  Presented  to  the  countess  by  Rastignac, 
Raphael  de  Valentin  became  passionately  charmed  by  her ; 
but  he  went  away  one  day,  having  learned  this  was  a  woman 


182  COMPENDIUM 

"without  a  heart."  She  had  a  cruel  memory  and  an  address 
that  was  the  despair  of  a  diplomatist ;  although  the  Russian 
ambassador  did  not  receive  her,  she  had  the  society  of  Mme. 
de  Serizy ;  went  to  the  homes  of  Mesdames  de  Nucingen  and 
de  Restaud  ;  received  the  Duchesse  de  Carigliano,  the  mare- 
chale  being  the  most  collet-monie  of  all  the  Bonapartist  coterie. 
She  had  heard  too  much  of  the  young  dudes  and  the  son  of 
a  peer  of  France,  who  had  offered  their  names  in  exchange 
for  her  fortune  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\ 

Fontaine,  Madame,  a  fortune-teller  in  Paris,  Rue  Vieille- 
du-Temple,  under  Louis-Philippe.  An  old  cook;  born  in 
1767.  She  made  lots  of  money;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  she 
made  heavy  losses  by  the  lottery.  Since  the  abolition  of 
chance  plays*  she  was  amassing  money  for  her  nephew. 
Mme.  Fontaine  was  served  in  her  divinations  by  an  enormous 
toad  named  Astaroth  and  one  black  hen  with  glistening  ebony 
feathers  named  Cleopatre  or  Bilouche.  These  two  animals 
profoundly  impressed  Sylvestre-Palafox-Castel  Gazonal  in 
1845,  ^^  "^^^  \\vc\Q  when  he  was  taken  to  the  sorceress'  home 
by  Leon  de  Lora  and  Bixiou.  The  Southerner  asked  in  fact 
that  she  give  him  five  francs*  worth ;  the  same  year  Mme. 
Cibot,  for  a  very  grave  occasion,  gave  one  hundred  francs  for 
a  consultation.  According  to  Bixiou,  ''one-third  the  lorettes, 
one-quarter  the  politicians,  and  half  th®  artists"  consulted 
Mme.  Fontaine;  she  was  the  Hegira  of  a  minister,  and  he 
listened  carefully  to  his  "good  fortune"  as  promised  by 
Bilouche.  Leon  de  Lora  said  that  he  did  nothing  of  import- 
ance without  taking  the  advice  of  Astaroth  [The  Unconscious 
Mummers,  11 — Cousin  Pons,  Qc\  In  1839  Mme.  Fontaine 
was  the  friend  and  almost  the  partner  of  Mme.  de  Saint- 
Esteve  (Jacqueline  Collin),  then  a  matrimonial-broker  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X)J>]. 

Fontaine,  Comte  de,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Vendee  in 
1879  ;  nicknamed  the  Grand-Jacques  [The  Chouans,  ^].  One 
^  Similar  to  policy  in  this  country  and  played  twice  daily. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  \%% 

of  Louis  XVIII.'s  intimates.  Field  marshal,  councilor  of 
State,  crown  administrator  extraordinary,  a  deputy,  and  after- 
ward, under  Charles  X. ,  a  peer  of  France  ;  decorated  with 
the  Legion  of  Honor  and  the  order  of  St.  Louis.  Head  of 
one  of  the  most  ancient  families  of  Poitou,  he  was  married  to 
a  Demoiselle  de  Kergarouet,  without  fortune,  but  of  one  of 
the  very  oldest  families  in  Brittany,  and  whose  mother  was  a 
relative  of  the  Rohans.  He  had  three  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. Of  the  three  sons  the  eldest,  president  of  the  Chamber, 
married  a  young  girl  whose  father,  many  times  a  millionaire, 
had  been  a  salt  merchant ;  the  second,  a  lieutenant-general, 
married  Mile.  Mongenod,  daughter  of  a  rich  banker,  that  the 
aunt  of  the  Due  d'Herouville  had  refused  for  her  nephew 
[Modeste  Mignon,  £^]  ;  the  third,  then  director-general  of 
the  ministry  of  Finance,  married  the  only  daughter  of  M. 
Grossetete,  the  receiver-general  at  Bourges.  Of  the  three 
daughters,  the  first  was  married  to  M.  Planat  of  Baudry,  re- 
ceiver-general ;  the  second  to  a  magistrate  of  bourgeois  origin, 
made  noble  by  the  King,  the  Baron  de  Villaine ;  the  third, 
Emilie,  married  her  old  uncle,  Comte  de  Kergarouet ;  then, 
when  a  widow,  Marquis  Charles  de  Vandenesse  [The  Sceaux 
Ball,  u\.  Comte  de  Fontaine  attended,  with  his  family,  the 
famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  Sunday,  December  17, 
1818,  and  after  the  perfumer's  failure  he  procured  him  a  place 
under  government  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  He  died  in  1824 
[Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Fontaine,  Emilie  de.  See  Vandenesse,  Marquise  Charles 
de. 

Fontaine,  Baronne  de,  nee  Anna  Grossetete,  only 
daughter  of  the  receiver-general  at  Bourges  ;  brought  up  in 
the  Demoiselles  Chamarolles'  boarding-school  with  Dinah 
Piedefer,  who  became  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye.  Thanks  to  her 
fortune  she  married  the  third  son  of  Comte  de  Fontaine. 
After  her  marriage  she  lived  in  Paris,  where  she  engaged  in  a 
lively  correspondence  with  her  old  school-mate,  located  at 


184  COMPENDIUM 

Sancerre ;  she  followed  the  fashions  and  manners  in  every 
luxurious  change.  Baronne  de  Fontaine,  on  her  way  to  Italy 
with  her  husband,  went  to  see  Dinah  at  the  sub-prefecture ; 
she  stayed  there  long  enough  for  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  to 
compare  the  fashionable  elegance  of  Paris  with  that  of  the 
provinces.  Later,  at  the  first  representation  of  a  drama  by 
Nathan,  about  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe, 
Anna  de  Fontaine  pretended  not  to  recognize  the  same  Bar- 
onne de  la  Baudraye,  then  known  as  Etienne  Lousteau's  mis- 
tress [Muse  of  the  Department,  CO]. 
.  Fontanieu,  Madame,  a  friend  and  neighbor  of  Mme. 
Vernier  Vouvray,  1831  ;  the  greatest  gossip  and  laugher,  and 
the  most  renowned  banterer  in  that  country ;  she  was  present 
at  the  meeting  between  the  crazy  Margaritis  and  Felix  Gaudis- 
sart,  when  the  drummer  was  so  cleverly  mystified  [Gaudissart 
the  Great,  o]. 

Fontanon,  Abbe,  born  about  1770.  A  canon  in  Bayeux 
Cathedral  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he 
'*  directed  the  conscience  "  of  Mile.  Bontems.  In  November, 
1808,  he  was  appointed  a  priest  in  Paris  and  hoped  to  get  a 
curacy,  and  this  to  be  followed  by  a  bishopric  \  he  again  be- 
came Mile.  Bontems'  confessor,  now  married  to  M.  de  Gran- 
ville, and  helped  to  stir  up  trouble  in  that  household  by  *'  his 
stern  provincial  Catholicism  and  inflexible  bigotry."  He 
revealed  to  the  wife  the  relationship  existing  between  Gran- 
ville and  Caroline  Crochard.  He  also  troubled  the  last  mo- 
ments of  her  mother,  Mme.  Crochard  [A  Second  Home,  ;^]. 
In  December,  1824,  at  Saint-Roch,  he  delivered  the  funeral 
oration  over  the  remains  of  Baron  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere 
[Les  Emplo^^es,  cc\.  Before  the  year  1824,  Abbe  Fontanon 
was  vicar  of  Saint-Paul's  Church,  Rue  Saint-Antoine  [Honor- 
ine,  fe].  The  confessor  of  Mme.  de  Lanty  in  1839,  he  al- 
ways delighted  in  intermeddling  in  family  secrets ;  he  was 
charged  with  a  negotiation  with  Dorlange-Sallenauve,  in  refer- 
ence to  Marianina  de  Lanty  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDJO]. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  185 

Fortin,  Madame,  Mme.  Marneffe's  mother.  General  de 
Montcornet's  mistress,  who  was  loaded  down  with  money  in 
her  sojourn  in  Paris,  all  of  which  she  dissipated,  under  the 
Empire,  in  a  life  of  folly;  for  twenty  years  all  the  world 
was  at  her  feet.  She  died  poor,  but  believed  herself  to  be 
still  rich.  Her  daughter  had  all  the  tastes  of  a  courtesan 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Fortin,  Valerie,  daughter  of  Marechal  de  Montcornet. 
See  Crevel,  Madame. 

Forzheim,  Comte  de.     See  Hulot,  Marechal. 

Fousseuse,  La,  orphan  daughter  of  a  grave-digger  of  that 
name;  born  in  1807.  Fragile,  nervous,  and  independent  and 
insulated,  she  tried  domestic  service,  then  fell  into  the  vaga- 
bondage of  a  beggar.  Brought  up  in  a  town  in  the  vicinity 
of  Grenoble,  where  Doctor  Benassis  was  located  under  the 
Restoration,  she  became  the  object  of  the  physician's  par- 
ticular care;  he  took  a  lively  interest  in  that  gentle,  loyal, 
and  fantastical  being,  with  such  an  impressionable  nature.  Al- 
though plain,  la  Fousseuse  nevertheless  had  a  charm  all  her 
own.  Perhaps  she  secretly  loved  her  benefactor  [The  Country 
Doctor,  C]. 

Fouche,  Joseph,  Due  d'Otrante;  born  near  Nantes,  in 
1753;  died  in  exile,  at  Trieste,  in  1820.  An  orator,  deputy 
to  the  National  Convention,  councilor  of  State,  minister  of 
police  under  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire,  he  still  had  charge 
of  the  department  of  the  Interior  and  of  the  government  of 
the  Illyrienne  provinces,  and,  finally,  president  of  the  pro- 
visional government,  in  1815.  In  the  month  of  September, 
1799,  Colonel  Hulot  said:  '' Bernadotte,  Carnot,  and  every 
one  else  down  to  citizen  Talleyrand  have  abandoned  us. 
There  is  only  one  good  patriot  left,  in  fact,  our  friend  Fouch6, 
who  has  everything  in  his  hands  by  police  supervision.  There 
is  a  man  for  you."  Fouche  was  Corentin's  particular  pro- 
tector, and  possibly  his  natural  father.  He  was  sent  to  Brit- 
tany during  the  insurrection,  at   the  beginning  of  the  year 


186  COMPENDIUM 

VIII.,  to  accompany  and  direct  Mile,  de  Verneuil's  mission 
for  the  seduction  and  capture  of  the  Marquis  de  Montau- 
ran,  chief  of  the  Chouans  [The  Chouans,  ^].  In  1806  he 
caused  Senator  Malin  de  Gondreville  to  be  carried  oif  and 
sequestrated  for  some  days  by  masked  agents  of  the  police,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  a  better  opportunity  of  searching  for 
any  important  papers  which  might  be  hidden  in  the  castle; 
these  were  not  more  compromising  to  the  senator  than  to  him- 
self. This  abduction  was  imputed  to  Michu,  the  Simeuses, 
and  the  Hauteserres,  the  former  of  whom  was  executed  and 
the  others  imprisoned.  In  1833  de  Marsay,  president  of  the 
council  of  ministers,  explained  the  mystery  of  that  enterprise 
at  the  home  of  Princesse  de  Cadignan ;  he  also  appreciated 
Fouche — "That  man  of  profound,  infernal  genius,  working  in 
the  shadow,  and  but  little  understood,  but  who  was  of  a  cer- 
tainty the  equal  of  a  Philip  the  Second,  a  Tiberius,  and  a 
Borgia"  [A  Historical  Mystery,  j^/"].  In  1809  Fouche,  who 
was  at  the  back  of  Peyrade,  saved  France  in  the  Walcheren 
affair;  on  his  return  from  the  Wagram  <:ampaign  the  Emperor 
rewarded  him  by  dismissing  him  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  I^]. 

Fouquereau,  concierge  of  M.  Jules  Desmarets,  stock- 
broker, Rue  Menars,  1820 ;  specially  feed  by  his  master  to  spy 
on  and  note  the  suspected  walks  abroad  of  Mme.  Jules  Des- 
marets [Ferragus,  hh\ 

Fourchon,  an  old  tenant-farmer  at  Ronquerolles,  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  forest  of  Aigues,  Bourgogne.  Formerly  a 
schoolmaster  and  an  old  carrier ;  an  old  man  who  fell  into  a 
drunken  habit;  he  practiced  at  Blangy,  in  1823,  the  triple 
functions  of  a  public  writer,  helper  to  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  a  player  on  the  clarionet ;  at  the  same  time  he  worked  as 
a  rope-niaker  with  his  apprentice,  Mouche,  the  natural  son  of 
one  of  his  natural  daughters ;  but  the  principal  revenue  of 
these  two  beings  they  picked  up  while  hunting  or  catching 
otters.  Fourchon  was  the  father-in-law  of  Tonsard,  the 
tavernkeeper  at  the  "  Grand  I  Vert "  [The  Peasantry,  M\ 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  187 

Foy,  Maximilien-Sebastien,  a  celebrated  orator  and 
general,  born  in  1775,  at  Ham;  died  at  Paris  in  1825.  In 
December,  1S18,  at  the  time  of  the  failure  of  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  who  had  gone  to  the  Kellers'  bank  to  solicit  a  credit  for 
one  hundred  thousand  francs,  he  was  seen  by  him  as  he  left 
the  bankers*  private  office,  General  Foy  being  escorted  to  the 
antechamber  by  Francois  Keller.  About  the  same  time  the 
discourse  of  the  soldier-orator  stirred  the  patriotic  and  liberal 
fibres  of  the  anti-Bourbon,  Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  Birotteau's 
uncle  by  marriage  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  In  182 1  General 
Foy,  who  was  in  the  bookseller  Dauriat's  store,  talking  with 
the  editors  of  the  **  Constitutionnel"  and  the  manager  of 
**la  Minerve,"  remarked  on  the  beauty  of  Lucien  de  Ru- 
bempre,  who  came  in  with  Lousteau  to  offer  the  sale  of  his 
sonnets  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  J[f  ]. 

Fraisier,  born  about  181 4,  possibly  at  Mantes.  The  son 
of  a  rope-maker  \  barrister,  business  agent,  No.  9  Rue  de  la 
Perle,  Paris,  1844-45.  After  being  for  six  years  head  clerk  to 
Maitre  Desroches,  he  bought  the  practice  of  Maitre  Levroux, 
an  attorney  at  Mantes,  where  he  saw  Leboeuf,  Vinet,  Vatinelle, 
and  Bouyonnet ;  but  he  soon  had  to  sell  his  practice  and 
leave  that  town  for  unprofessional  conduct.  He  then  opened 
in  Paris  an  office  for  consultations.  A  friend  of  Dr.  Poulain, 
who  had  treated  him  and  who  attended  the  dying  Sylvain  Pons, 
he  gave  cunning  advice  to  Mme.  Cibot,  who  was  avaricious  to 
despoil  the  old  collector ;  he  assured  the  Camusot  de  Marvilles 
of  becoming  the  heirs  of  the  old  musician,  who  was  their  rel- 
ative, after  astutely  getting  the  best  of  the  faithful  Schmucke. 
In  1845  ^^  succeeded  Vitel  as  justice  of  the  peace ;  that  post, 
which  it  had  been  his  ambition  to  secure,  was  procured  for 
him  by  the  Camusot  de  Marvilles,  as  a  reward  for  his  devotion 
to  their  interests.  He  had  luckily  been  of  service  to  that 
family  in  Normandy  on  the  great  question  of  pasture,  in  which 
they  were  mixed  up  with  an  Englishman  named  Wadmann. 
Fraisier  was  a  small,  lean  man  with  a  pimply  face  and  viscid 


188  COMPENDIUM 

blood ;  he  exhaled  a  frightful  odor.  At  Mantes  a  certain 
Mme.  Vatinelle  "had  not  been  unkind  to  him,"  and  he  lived' 
with  a  servant-mistress,  the  woman  Sauvage.  But  he  missed 
a  good  thing  by  not  marrying  his  client,  Mme.  Florimond,  or 
the  daughter  of  Tabareau.  To  tell  the  truth,  the  Camusot  de 
Marvilles  in  the  end  counseled  him  to  disdain  Mile.  Tabareau 
[Cousin  Pons,  oc\ 

Franchessini,  Colonel,  born  about  1789;  served  in  the 
Imperial  Guard,  and  was  afterward  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
colonels  of  the  Restoration,  but  was  dismissed  the  service  on 
account  of  suspicions  cast  on  his  honor.  In  1808,  to  provide 
for  his  foolish  lavishness  on  a  woman,  he  forged  a  bill  of 
exchange.  Jacques  Collin  (Vautrin)  was  convicted  of  the 
crime  and  sent  to  the  hulks  for  a  number  of  years.  In  1819 
Franchessini  killed  young  Taillefer  in  a  duel,  at  Vautrin's 
instigation.  The  year  following,  with  Lady  Brandon,  per- 
haps his  mistress,  he  was  at  the  great  ball  given  by  Comtesse 
de  Beauseant  before  her  flight.  In  1839  Franchessini,  one 
of  the  most  active  members  of  the  Jockey  Club,  exercised  the 
functions  of  a  colonel  in  the  National  Guard  ;  he  married  a 
wealthy  Irishwoman,  who  was  pious  and  charitable  ;  he  resided 
in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  hotels  in  the  Breda  quarter. 
Elected  a  deputy,  he  was  intimate  with  Eugene  de  Rastignac ; 
he  showed  himself  very  hostile  to  Sallenauve  and  voted 
against  the  validity  of  the  election  of  his  colleague,  in 
response  to  Maxime  de  Trailles'  desire.  Franchessini  during 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  life  was  in  correspondence  with 
Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin  [Father  Goriot,  6r — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>X>]. 

Francine.     See  Cottin  Francine. 

Francois,  Abbe,  cure  of  the  parish  at  Alen^on,  in  1816. 
**Cheverous  of  the  little  foot";  he  had  subscribed  to  the 
oath  of  the  Constitution  under  the  Revolution,  and  for  that 
reason  was  scorned  by  the  "Ultras"  of  the  town,  although 
he  was  a  model  of  charity  and  virtue.     Abbe  Francois  was  a 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  189 

regular  visitor  at  M.  and  Mme.  du  Bousquier's  and  M.  and 
Mme.  Granson's  ;  but  M.  du  Bousquier  and  Athanase  Granson 
alone  accorded  him  a  hearty  welcome.  In  his  last  hours  he 
was  reconciled  to  the  cure  of  Saint-Leonard's,  the  aristocratic 
church  at  Alengon,  and  died  amid  universal  grief  [The  Old 
Maid,  aa\. 

Francois,  head  valet  to  Marechal  Comte  de  Montcornet, 
at  the  Aigues,  1823.  He  was  specially  attached  to  the  service 
of  Emile  Blondet  while  the  journalist  stayed  there  ;  he  was 
paid  twelve,  hundred  francs  as  wages.  Frangois  possessed  the 
confidence  and  the  secrets  of  Montcornet  [The  Peasantry,  jK]. 

Francois,  in  1822  the  conductor  of  a  diligence  running 
from  Paris  to  Beaumont-sur-Oise  and  belonging  to  the  enter- 
prising Touchard.  He  made  a  communication  to  the  inn- 
keeper at  Saint-Brice,  which,  if  it  had  been  repeated  to  the 
farmer  Ceger,  would  have  been  a  bit  of  very  useful  information 
to  him  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Francoise,  a  servant  of  Mme.  Crochard's,  Rue  Saint- 
Louis  in  the  Marais,*  in  1822.  She  was  a  toothless  old 
woman,  who  had  been  in  service  since  she  was  thirty  years 
old.  She  attended  her  mistress  in  her  last  moments  ;  this 
was  the  fourth  mistress  that  Francoise  had  buried  [A  Second 
Home,  ^\ 

Francoise,  a  servant  at  the  Minards,  1840  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\ 

Frappart,  in  1839,  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  was  the  proprietor 
of  a  dance-hall  in  which  the  electors  met  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Colonel  Giguet  and  received  with  acclaim  the  can- 
didature of  Dorlange-Sallenauve  for  deputy  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  1>D]. 

Frappier,  the  leading  carpenter  of  Provins,  in  1827-28. 
It  was  in  his  place  that  Jacques  Brigaut  entered  as  a  journey- 
man, when  he  went  to  that  little  town  to  rejoin  the  friend 
of  his  childhood,  Pierrette  Lorrain.  Frappier  received  that 
*  Now  the  Rue  Turenne. 


190  COMPENDIUM 

young  girl  when  she  left  Rogron's  house.  Frappier  was  mar- 
ried [Pierrette,  ^]. 

Frederic,  one  of  the  editors  on  Finot's  journal,  in  1821. 
He  had  charge  of  the  theatrical  notices  at  the  Odeon  and 
Frangais  theatres  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilff  ]. 

Frelu,  Big,  daughter  of  Croisic.  She  had  a  child  by 
Simon  Gaudry.  She  nursed  Pierrette  Cambremer,  whose 
mother  died  very  young.  The  father  of  her  child  sometimes 
owed  two  or  three  months'  dues  to  Big  Frelu  [A  Seaside 
Tragedy,  e\ 

Fremiot,  Jean-Baptiste,  a  professor  living  at  No.  22 
Rue  de  la  Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve,  the  house  occupied 
in  1828  by  the  Marquis  d'Espard  [The  Commission  in  Lu- 
nacy, c]. 

Fresconi,  an  Italian  who,  under  the  Restoration,  about 
1828,  managed  a  menagerie  on  the  Boulevard  du  Montpar- 
nasse  and  the  Rue  Notre- Dame-des-Champs,  Paris.  The  enter- 
prise was  unsuccessful.  Barbet,  the  bookseller,  had  found 
the  funds ;  the  menagerie  became  his  property ;  he  trans- 
formed it  into  an  apartment  house ;  it  was  here  that  Baron 
du  Bourlac  lived  with  his  daughter  and  grandson  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T]. 

Fresquin,  an  old  superintendent  of  bridges  and  roads ; 
married  and  the  father  of  a  family.  Employed,  in  the  time 
of  Louis-Philippe,  by  Gr6goire  Gerard  in  the  erection  of 
hydraulic  works  for  Mme.  Graslin  at  Montegnac.  In  1843 
Fresquin  was  appointed  tax-collector  for  the  canton  [The 
Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Frisch,  Samuel,  Jew;  a  jeweler,  living  on  the  Rue 
Sainte-Avoie,*  in  1829;  a  tradesman  and  creditor  of  Esther 
Gobseck;  he  bought,  sold,  and  took  things  in  pawn  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  I^]. 

Fritaud,  Abbe,  a  priest  at  Sancerre  in   1836,  at  the  time 

*  A  part  of  the  real  Rue  du  Temple  running  from  the  Rue  Saint-Merry 
to  the  Rue  des  Haudriettes. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  191 

when  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye  shone  under  the  pseudonym  of 
the  Sapho  of  Saint-Satur  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Fritot,  a  shawl  merchant  in  the  Bourse  quarter,  Paris, 
under  Louis-Philippe.  Emulating  Gaudissart,  he  succeeded 
in  selling  a  ridiculous  shawl  for  six  thousand  francs  to  Mrs. 
Noswell,  a  capricious  and  distrustful  Englishwoman.  Fritot 
was  invited  to  the  King's  table  [Gaudissart  II.,  n]. 

Fritot,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  After  the  success 
of  the  good  piece  of  trading,  played  before  Jean-Jacques 
Bixiou  and  Fabien  du  Ronceret,  she  gave  instructions  to 
Adolphe,  a  young  blonde  clerk  [Gaudissart  II.,  7l\. 

Froidfond,  Marquis  de;  born  about  1773;  a  gentleman 
of  Maine-et-Loire.  When  very  young  he  was  ruined  and  sold 
his  castle  near  Saumur.  It  was  bought  at  a  good  price  by 
Felix  Grandet,  through  the  aid  of  the  notary  Cruchot,  in 
181 1.  About  1827  the  Marquis  de  Froidfond  was  a  widower 
with  children ;  he  was  spoken  of  as  about  being  made  a  peer 
of  France.  At  this  time  Mme.  des  Grassins  tried  to  persuade 
Eugenie  Grandet,  newly  orphaned,  to  marry  the  marquis,  and 
that  this  same  marriage  was  the  one  thought  of  by  her  father, 
Grandet.  In  1832,  when  Eugenie  was  the  widow  of  Cruchot 
de  Bonfons,  the  family  of  the  marquis  again  asked  her  to 
marry  M.  de  Froidfond  [Eugenie  Grandet,  JE/]. 

Fromaget,  an  apothecary  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  under  Louis- 
Philippe.  As  he  did  not  supply  the  chateau  of  Gondreville, 
he  seemed  disposed  to  cabal  against  the  Kellers ;  that  is  why, 
when  the  election  of  1839  ^^'^^  o">  ^^  probably  voted  for 
Simon  Giguet  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  jDJ>]. 

Fromenteau,  police  agent.  He  belonged  to  the  political 
police  of  Louis  XVIII.,  with  Contenson  ;  in  1845  ^""^  assisted 
the  commercial  police  to  discover  persons  who  were  runaway 
debtors.  He  was  encountered  in  company  with  Theodore 
Gaillard  by  Sylvestre-Palafox-Castel  Gazonal ;  he  told  the 
bewildered  provincial  some  curious  details  of  the  various  po- 
lice forces.     Although  an  old  man,  Fromenteau  did  not  scorn 


192  COMPENDIUM 

the  women,  and   was  still  a  rake   [The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, tf]. 

Funcal,  Comte  de,  one  of  the  names  assumed  by  Bourig- 
nard ;  met  with,  about  1820,  at  the  Spanish  ambassador's 
residence,  Paris,  by  Henri  de  Marsay  and  Auguste  de  Maulin- 
cour.  He  was  to  be  Comte  Funcal,  a  Portuguese-Brazilian 
naval  officer:  ''My  friends  have  found  me  a  shape  to  fill"  ; 
few  men  of  his  age  would  have  had  patience  to  '*  learn  Portu- 
guese and  English,  with  which  that  confounded  naval  officer 
was  perfectly  acquainted  "  [Ferragus,  hh\ 


Gabilleau,  a  deserter  from  the  Seventeenth  regiment  of 
the  line,  and  a  Chauffeur  executed  at  Tulle,  under  the  Empire, 
the  same  day  that  he  had  arranged  for  his  escape.  He  was 
one  of  Farrabesche's  accomplices,  who  made  use  of  the  con- 
demned's  skill  in  opening  his  prison  to  make  his  own  escape 
[The  Country  Parson,  J^]. 

Gabriel;  born  about  1790;  messenger  in  the  Bureau  of 
Finance,  and  taker  of  pass-out  checks  in  a  theatre,  under 
the  Restoration ;  a  Savoyard ;  a  nephew  of  Antoine's,  the 
oldest  messenger  in  the  same  bureau ;  the  husband  of  a  clever, 
pearly  toothed  woman.  He  lived  with  his  uncle  Antoine  and 
another  of  his  relatives,  his  comrade  in  the  office,  the  door- 
keeper, Laurent  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Gabusson,  clerk  and  cashier  to  Dauriat,  publisher,  Palais- 
Royal,  1821  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JZ"]. 

Gaillard,  Theodore,  a  journalist,  owner  or  manager  of 
newspapers.  In  1822,  with  Hector  Merlin,  he  founded  a 
Royalist  and  romantic  newspaper,  in  which  Lucien  de  Ru- 
bempre,  a  turncoat,  ''broke  the  back"  of  a  grand  book 
written  by  his  friend  Daniel  d'Arthez  [A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  JMT].     Under  Louis-Philippe  he  was  one  of 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  193 

the  proprietors  of  a  most  important  political  newspaper  [Bea- 
trix, JP — The  Harlot's  Progress,  'Y^  In  1845  ^^  managed 
a  leading  journal.  Formerly  bright  and  intelligent,  "  he  fin- 
ished by  becoming  stupid  and  fell  into  the  dead  medium  " 
class.  He  sprinkled  his  dialogues  with  celebrated  words  from 
plays  then  in  vogue ;  he  pronounced  them  with  an  accent 
equal  to  Odry,  and  really  better  than  Frederick  Lemaitre. 
He  lived  at  that  time  on  the  Rue  Menars.  He  there  received 
Leon  de  Lora,  Jean-Jacques  Bixiou,  and  Sylvestre-Palafox- 
Castel  Gazonal  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  if]. 

Gaillard,  Madame  Theodore,  born  at  Alengon  about 
1800.  Christian  name  Suzanne.  ''A  beautiful  Norman, 
fresh,  dazzling,  and  plump."  One  of  the  workers  in  Mme. 
Lardot's  laundry  in  181 6,  the  year  that  she  left  her  native 
town  after  having  obtained  some  money  from  M.  du  Bous- 
quier,  and  persuaded  him  that  she  was  pregnant  by  him. 
Chevalier  de  Valois  dearly  loved  Suzanne,  but  all  the  same  he 
would  not  allow  himself  to  be  entrapped.  Suzanne  on  her 
arrival  in  Paris  made  rapid  progress  in  becoming  a  stylish 
courtesan.  Some  time  after  her  departure  she  reappeared  for 
a  little  while  at  Alengon,*  when  she  followed  the  funeral  of 
Athanase  Granson,  crying  before  his  afflicted  mother,  whom 
she  said  had  kept  them  apart,  **  I  loved  him."  During  this 
visit,  in  pretty  straight  talk,  she  ridiculed  the  marriage  of 
Mile.  Cormon  to  M.  du  Bousquier  [The  Old  Maid,  acC\. 
Under  the  name  of  Mme.  du  Val-Noble  she  became  famous 
in  the  world  of  gallantry  and  art.  In  1821-22  she  was  Hector 
Merlin's  mistress ;  at  this  time  she  received  Lucien  du  Ru- 
bempre,  Rastignac,  Bixiou,  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  Finot, 
Blondet,  Vignon,  Nucingen,  Beaudenord,  Philippe  Bridau, 
and  Conti  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iJT— A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\     After  being  Jacques  Falleix's, 

*  She  alighted  at  the  H6tel  du  More,  since  then  the  Caf6  de  la  Renais- 
sance,  and,  in  1799,  the  Trois  Maures  inn,  where  Montauran  and  Mile. 
de  Verneuil  are  encountered  for  the  first  time. 
13 


194  COMPENDIUM 

a  stockbroker,  kept  mistress,  after  his  failure  she  was  discov- 
ered by  Peyrade,  1830,  living  hidden  under  the  name  and 
protection  of  Samuel  Johnson  ' '  the  nabob. ' '  She  was  friendly 
with  Esther  Gobseck,  who  occupied,  on  the  Rue  Saint-Georges, 
a  mansion  which  had  been  given  her,  Suzanne,  by  Falleix, 
and  that  Nucingen  acquired  for  Esther  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, I^].  In  1838  she  married  Theodore  Gaillard,  her 
lover  since  1830  ;  in  1845,  ^"^  ^^^  ^m^  Menars,  she  received 
Leon  de  Lora,  Jean-Jacques  Bixiou,  and  Sylvestre-Palafox- 
Castel  Gazonal  [Beatrix,  JP — The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vb\. 

Gaillard,  one  of  the  three  keepers  who  succeeded  Courte- 
cuisse,  under  Michaud's  command,  to  look  after  the  estate  and 
property  of  General  de  Montcornet,  at  the  Aigues.  An  old 
soldier,  formerly  a  sub-lieutenant,  '*  riddled  with  wounds"; 
he  had  a  natural  daughter  of  his  living  with  him  [The  Peas- 
antry, Jl\ 

Galard,  a  truck-gardener  of  Auteuil,  father  of  Mme.  Lem- 
prun,  maternal  grandfather  of  Mme.  Jerome  Thuillier  ;  his 
death,  at  an  advanced  age,  was  caused  by  an  accident  in  181 7 
[The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Galard,  Mademoiselle,  an  old  maid,  a  real-estate  owner 
at  Besan^on,  Rue  du  Perron.  In  1834  she  rented  the  first 
story  of  her  house  to  Albert  Savaron  de  Savarus,  who  took  as 
his  servant  the  old  valet  formerly  employed  by  the  late  M. 
Galard,  Mile.  Galard's  father  [Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Galardon,  tax-collector  at  Provins.  He  m.arried,  under 
the  Restoration,  the  widow  Madame  Guenee  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Galardon,  Madame,  nee  Tiphaine,  eldest  sister  of  M. 
Tiphaine,  the  president  of  the  court  at  Provins.  Forthwith, 
on  being  married  to  a  Sieur  Guenee,  she  opened  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Denis,  Paris,  one  of  the  numerous  retail  outfitting  stores: 
a  *' sister  of  the  family."  About  the  end  of  1815  she  sold 
out  to  the  Rogrons  and  retired  to  Provins.  She  had  three 
daughters  that  she  married  in  that  little  town  :  the  first  to  M. 
Lesourd,  public  prosecutor;  the  second  to  M.   Martener,  a 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  195 

physician  ;  and  the  third  to  M.  Auffray,  the  notary.  Then 
she  married  again,  this  time  her  husband  being  M.  Galardon, 
tax-collector.  She  invariably  added  ^'' nee  Tiphaine  "  to  her 
signature.  She  took  the  part  of  Pierrette  Lorrain,  and  was 
opposed  to  the  Liberals,  who  had  been  drawn  into  persecuting 
the  Rogrons'  ward  [Pierrette,  %\. 

Galathionne,  Prince  and  Princess,  Russians.  The 
prince  was  one  of  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse's  lovers  [The  Secrets 
of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^\  In  September,  1815,  he  was 
la  Minoret's  protector,  whom  he  endowed  as  a  daughter  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\.  In  1819  de  Marsay  was  seen  in  the 
Princess  Galathionne's  box  at  the  Italiens,  which  caused  Mme. 
de  Nucingen  much  anguish  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  Lousteau 
said  that  "the  history  of  Prince  Galathionne's  diamonds,  the 
Maubreuil  affair,  and  the  Pombreton  succession"  were  all 
subjects  for  the  puffs  of  the  journalists  [A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  3!L\  Princess  Galathionne  gave  balls  in 
1834-35,  which  Comtesse  Felix  de  Vandenesse  attended  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\  About  1840  the  prince  tried  to 
*'pump"  Mme.  Schontz  about  the  Marquis  de  Rochefide; 
but  that  woman  answered:  *'My  dear  prince,  you  are  not 
more  beautiful,  but  you  are  more  aged  than  Rochefide ;  you 
would  beat  me,  but  he  is  like  a  father  to  me  "  [Beatrix,  jP]. 

Galope-Chopine.     See  Cibot. 

Gamard,  Sophie,  an  old  maid,  who,  on  the  Rue  de  la 
Psalette,*  Tours,  was  the  owner  of  a  house  at  the  rear  of  St. 
Gatien's  church,  which  she  in  part  rented  out  to  priests.  It 
was  here  that  the  Abbes  Troubert,  Chapeloud,  and  Francois 
Birotteau  resided.  This  house  had  been  nationalized  during 
the  Terror,  and  bought  by  the  father  of  Mile.  Gamard,  who 
rented  it  out  to  and  boarded  priests.  After  having  warmly 
welcomed  Abbe  Birotteau,  she  began  to  hate  him ;  secretly 
urged  by  Troubert,  she  then  had  him  dispossessed  of  his  fur- 

*  Rue  de  la  Psalette,  where  the  ecclesiastics  used  to  live  at  the  beginning 
of  tiie  century,  is  now  occupied  by  laundresses. 


196  COMPENDIUM 

niture  and  denied  the  suite  of  rooms  he  had  rented.  Mile. 
Gamard  died,  in  1826,  of  a  severe  cold.  Troubert  had  it 
bruited  around  that  Birotteau  had  caused  her  death  by  the 
annoyance  he  had  given  the  old  maid  [The  Abbe  Birotteau,  %\. 

Gambara,  Paolo,  a  musician  ;  born  at  Cremona  in  1791; 
son  of  an  instrument-maker ;  he  was  a  good  executant,  but  a 
better  composer;  he  was  driven  from  his  house  by  the  French 
and  ruined  by  the  war.  These  events  forced  Paolo  Gambara 
to  an  errant  life  when  but  ten  years  old.  He  tasted  but  little 
calm,  and  found  it  difficult  to  support  himself  when  in  Venice, 
about  1 81 3.  At  that  time,  at  the  Fenice  theatre,  he  had 
a  representation  of  an  opera  of  his,  **  Mahomet,"  which 
sounded  most  horribly.  Nevertheless,  he  obtained  the  hand 
of  Marianina,  whom  he  loved,  and  with  her  made  his  way 
to  Germany,  thence  in  turn  to  Paris,  where  he  lived,  in 
1 83 T,  in  a  wretched  apartment  on  the  Rue  Froidmanteau.* 
The  musician,  a  past-master  in  the  theory  of  music,  could 
not  realize  and  embody  his  remarkable  thoughts,  and  when 
he  played  his  auditors  were  stupefied  by  the  formless  compo- 
sitions of  his  sublime  inspirations ;  but  he  analyzed  with 
enthusiasm  *' Robert  le  Diable,"  after  having  with  Andrea 
Marcosini  attended  a  representation  of  Meyerbeer's  master- 
piece. In  1837  he  was  reduced  to  repairing  musical  instru- 
ments, and,  at  the  same  time,  he  sang  duets  with  his  wife  on 
the  Champs-Elysees  to  earn  a  few  sous.  Emilio  and  Massimilla 
Varese  took  particular  notice  of  and  pitied  the  Gambaras, 
whom  they  met  in  the  vicinity  of  the  faubourg  Saint-Honore. 
Paolo  Gambara  had  no  sense  until  he  was  drunk.  He  in- 
vented a  strange  instrument  which  he  called  the  '*  Panhar- 
monicon  "  [Gambara,  &&]. 

Gambara,  Marianina,  a  Venetian,  wife  of  Paolo  Gam- 
bara. She  lived  a  generally  wretched  life  with  him,  and  for 
a  long  time  in  Paris  their  household  was  supported  by  her 

*  This  street  has  disappeared  for  more  than  thirty  years;  it  formed  the 
site  of  the  Louvre  galleries. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  197 

needle.  Her  customers  were  the  prostitutes  living  on  the 
Rue  Froidmanteau,  who  treated  her  generously  and  always 
with  great  respect.  From  1831  to  1836  Marianina  had  aban- 
doned her  husband  ;  she  left  her  lover,  Comte  Andrea  Mar- 
cosini,  who  deserted  her  and  married  a  dancer,  in  January, 
1837,  and  returned  to  the  conjugal  domicile,  emaciated,  dirty, 
dusty,  '*a  species  of  nervous  skeleton,"  to  again  take  up  a 
life  more  than  ever  wretched  [Gambara,  hh\ 

Gandolphini,  •  Prince,  a  Neapolitan,  an  old  partisan  of 
Murat's.  A  victim  of  the  last  Revolution,  he  was,  in  1823, 
proscribed  and  poor.  At  that  time  he  was  sixty-five  years  old 
and  had  the  face  of  an  octogenarian  ;  he  lived  frugally  enough 
with  his  young  wife  at  Gersau,  Lucerne,  under  the  English 
name  of  Lovelace.  He  also  passed  for  being  a  certain  Lam- 
porani,  a  famous  bookseller  of  Milan.  When,  before  Ru- 
dolphe,  the  prince  revealed  his  real  physiognomy,  he  said  : 
"  I  have  played  many  a  part  and  know  well  how  to  make  up. 
Ah  !  I  played  one  in  Paris  under  the  Empire,  with  Bour- 
rienne,  Mme.  Murat,  Mme.  d'Abrantis  e  tutte  quantiy  A 
character  in  a  novel,  ''  I'Ambitieux  par  amour,"  published 
by  Albert  Savarus  in  *' la  Revue  de  I'Est,"  in  1834.  Under 
these  suppositious  names  the  author  wrote  his  own  history. 
Rudolphe  was  himself;  Prince  and  Princess  Gandolphini 
represented  the  Due  and  Duchesse  d'Arga'iolo  [Albert  Sava- 
ron,/]. 

Gandolphini,  Princesse,  nee  Francesca  Colonna,  a 
Roman  of  illustrious  descent,  the  fourth  child  of  Prince  and 
Princesse  Colonna.  While  quite  young  she  married  Prince 
Gandolphini,  one  of  the  richest  land-owners  in  Sicily.  Hid- 
den under  the  name  of  Miss  Lovelace,  she  met  and  was  loved 
by  Rudolphe,  in  Switzerland.  The  heroine  of  a  novel  entitled 
"  I'Ambitieux  par  amour,"  published  in  **  la  Revue  de  I'Est," 
in  1834,  by  Albert  Savarus,  and  in  which  he  recounts  his  own 
history  under  these  suppositious  names  [Albert  Savaron, /*]. 

Ganivet,  a  bourgeois  of  Issoudun.     In  1822,  in  a  conversa- 


198  COMPENDIUM 

tion  in  which  he  repeatedly  questioned  Maxence  Gilet,  Major 
Potel  threatened  Ganivet  that  he  ''  would  swallow  his  tongue, 
and  without  sauce,"  if  he  gave  any  more  of  it  to  Flore  Bra- 
zier's lover  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Ganivet,  Mademoiselle,  a  woman  of  Issoudun,  "  as  ugly 
as  the  seven  capital  sins."  She  none  the  less  had  ''  seduced  " 
a  certain  Borniche-Hereau,  who  left  her  an  income  of  one 
thousand  crowns,  in  1778  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J"]. 

Gannerac,  a  carrier's  clerk  at  Angouleme ;  in  1821-22 
he  was  mixed  up  in  the  affair  of  the  acceptances  subscribed 
by  Lucien  de  Rubempre  under  the  imitated  signature  of  his 
brother-in-law,  David  Sechard  [Lost  Illusions,  ^^A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  JT]. 

Garangeot,  in  1845,  ""^  ^  large,  popular  theatre,  managed 
by  Felix  Gaudissart,  obtained  the  baton,  as  leader  of  the 
orchestra,  formerly  in  possession  of  Sylvain  Pons.  He  was 
cousin-german  to  Helo'ise  Brisetout,  who  got  him  the  position. 
Pons  said  of  Garangeot  that  he  asked  him  to  employ  him  as 
first  violin,  but  that  he  had  no  talent  and  was  unable  to  com- 
pose an  air ;  that,  for  all  that,  he  was  a  man  of  parts,  and 
could  make  some  good  variations  in  music  [Cousin  Pons,  QC\. 

Garceland,  mayor  of  Provins,  under  the  Restoration ; 
brother-in-law  of  Guepin.  He  indirectly  defended  Pierrette 
Lorrain  against  the  Liberal  party  of  that  little  town,  that 
Maitre  Vinet  headed  and  that  represented  Rogron  [Pier- 
rette, i\ 

Garcenault,  De,  first  president  of  the  court  at  Besan^on, 
in  1834.  He  persuaded  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral  to  take 
Albert  Savarus,  as  barrister,  in  the  trial  of  the  chapter  against 
the  town  to  recover  the  buildings  of  that  ancient  convent. 
Albert  Savarus,  in  fact,  plead  for  the  chapter  and  gained  his 
cause  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Garnery,  one  of  the  two  commissaries  to  the  delegation 
in  May,  1830  ;  charged  by  de  Granville,  the  public  prosecutor, 
to  go  and  take  possession  of  the  letters  written  to  Lucien  de 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  199 

Rubempre  by  Mme.  de  Serizy,  the  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse, 
and  Mile.  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu,  letters  which  were  in  the 
possession  of  Jacqueline  Collin,  and  that  Vautrin  consented 
to  deliver  to  them  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\. 

Gars,  Le.     See  Montauran,  Marquis  Alphonse  de. 

Gasnier,  a  peasant  in  the  environs  of  Grenoble;  born 
about  1789.  Married,  and  the  father  of  numerous  children, 
whom  he  loved  much  ;  he  could  not  be  consoled  on  the  loss 
of  his  eldest-born ;  Dr.  Benassis,  mayor  of  the  commune, 
spoke  of  this  paternal  affection  to  Major  Genestas  as  a  rare 
trait  in  farm  servants  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Gasselin,  a  Breton  ;  born  1794;  a  servant  of  the  Guenics, 
Guerande,  1836,  and  since  he  was  fifteen  years  old.  A  little, 
squat  man,  with  black  hair,  sooty  complexion,  silent  and  slow. 
He  cared  for  the  garden  and  groomed  the  horses.  In  1832, 
at  the  time  of  the  Duchesse  de  Berry's  prank,  in  which  Gas- 
selin took  part  with  Baron  du  Guenic  and  his  son  Calyste,  the 
faithful  servitor  received  a  sword-stroke  on  the  shoulder  which 
was  meant  for  the  young  man.  This  action  seemed  so  natural 
in  the  family  that  Gasselin  was  fully  thanked  [Beatrix,  'P\ 

Gaston,  Louis,  eldest  adulterous  son  of  Lady  Brandon ; 
born  in  1805.  He  was  orphaned  by  the  death  of  his  mother 
in  the  first  years  of  the  Restoration  ;  during  the  whole  of  his 
childhood  he  acted  as  a  father  to  his  younger  brother,  Marie 
Gaston,  whom  he  placed  in  the  college  at  Tours,  and  em- 
barked soon  after  as  a  midshipman  in  a  man-of-war.  After 
being  raised  to  the  grade  of  captain  of  a  vessel  in  an  American 
republic,  and  becoming  very  wealthy  in  the  Indies,  he  died 
at  Calcutta  in  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe, 
following  the  failure  of  the  **  famous  Halmers,"  at  the  moment 
when  he  was  about  returning  to  France.  He  was  happily 
married  [La  Grenadiere,  j — Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Gaston,  Marie,  second  adulterous  son  of  Lady  Brandon ; 
born  in  1810;  brought  up  at  Tours  College,  which  he  left  in 
1827 ;  a  poet,  the  protege  of  Daniel  d'Arthez,  who  often  gave 


200  COMPENDIUM 

him  "the  tricks  of  the  trade."  Louise  de  Chaulieu,  the 
widow  of  Macumer,  met  him  at  Mme.  d'Espard's,  in  1831 ; 
he  married  her  in  October,  1833,  although  his  whole  fortune 
amounted  to  thirty  thousand  francs  of  debts  owing  by  him, 
and  that  she  was  much  older  than  himself.  The  couple  were 
happy,  living  in  solitude  at  Ville-d' Avray ;  but  Louise  became 
jealous,  owing  to  unjust  suspicions,  and  thought  that  her  hus- 
band was  unfaithful ;  she  died  two  years  after  the  marriage. 
During  those  two  years  Marie  Gaston  wrote  at  least  four  pieces 
for  the  stage ;  one  of  these  was  in  collaboration  with  his  wife, 
and  was  given  with  immense  success,  at  Paris,  under  the  names 
of  Nathan  and  MM.  *  *  *  [La  Grenadiere,  j — Letters  of 
Two  Brides,  1;].  In  his  early  youth  Marie  Gaston  published, 
at  the  cost  of  his  friend  Dorlange,  a  volume  of  poems,  "les 
Perce-neige,"  of  which  every  copy  sold  for  three  sous  each 
volume  at  a  second-hand  bookstore,  and  overflowed  the  quays 
from  the  Pont  Royal  to  Pont  Marie.  A  widower,  Marie 
Gaston  traveled  without  obtaining  consolation.  He  became 
insane,  and  was  lodged  in  a  lunatic  asylum  at  Hanwell,  Eng- 
land [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>jy,  :EJB1\ 

Gaston,  Madame  Louis,  a  stiff  and  cold  Englishwoman ; 
wife  of  Louis  Gaston ;  married  doubtless  in  the  Indies,  where 
she  lost  her  husband  following  a  commercial  crisis.  A  widow, 
she  went  to  France,  taking  her  two  children  with  her,  and, 
being  without  resources,  became  a  charge  on  her  brother-in- 
law,  who  secretly  visited  and  supported  her.  She  lived  at 
that  time  in  Paris,  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEveque.  The 
visits  made  her  by  Marie  Gaston  became  known  to  her  sister- 
in-law,  who  from  this  cause  became  absurdly  jealous,  not 
knowing  the  object  of  the  calls ;  Madame  Louis  Gaston  was 
indirectly  the  cause  of  the  death  of  Madame  Marie  Gaston 
[Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Gaston,  Madame  Marte,  nee  Armande-Louise-Marie  de 
Chaulieu,  in  1805.  At  one  time  destined  to  take  the  veil, 
she  was  brought  up  at  the  convent  of  the  Carmellites,  Blois. 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  201 

along  with  Renee  de  Maucombe,  who  became  Madame  de 
I'Estorade;  she  remained  in  constant  communication  with 
her  faithful  friend  by  means  of  letters,  and  was  given  wise 
and  prudent  advice.  Louise  de  Chaulieu,  in  1825,  married 
her  Spanish  professor,  Baron  de  Macumer,  whom  she  lost  in 
1829.  In  1833  she  contracted  a  new  union  with  Marie  Gas- 
ton, the  poet.  Both  marriages  proved  sterile.  In  the  first 
she  was  worshiped  and  believed  she  loved ;  in  the  second  she 
was  beloved  and  also  loved,  but  her  foolish  jealousy,  strength- 
ened after  a  rapid  horseback  ride  from  Ville-d'Avray  to  Ver- 
dier,  caused  her  death,  for  she  died  of  consumption  voluntarily 
contracted  by  her,  through  despair  at  the  thought  of  treachery, 
in  1835.  At  one  time  in  the  Carmellite  convent  at  Blois, 
Madame  Marie  Gaston  lived  also  at  Paris,  in  the  faubourg 
Saint-Germain,  where  she  had  an  interview  with  M.  de  Bo- 
nald  \  at  Chantepleur,  on  her  domain ;  at  la  Grampade,  Pro- 
vence, at  Mme.  de  I'Estorade's ;  in  Italy,  at  the  Villc 
d'Avray,  where  she  slept  her  last  sleep  in  a  park  of  her  own 
creation  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Gatienne,  a  servant  of  Mme.  and  Mile.  Bontem  Bayeux, 
1805  [A  Second  Home,  z\. 

Gaubert,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  generals  of  the  Re- 
public ;  the  first  husband  of  Mile,  de  RonqueroUes,  whom  he 
left  a  widow  at  twenty  years  of  age,  constituting  her  his  sole 
heiress.  The  widowed  Mme.  Gaubert,  sister  of  the  Marquis 
de  RonqueroUes,  again  married  in  1806,  her  second  husband 
being  Comte  de  Serizy  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Gaubertin,  Francois,  born  about  1770,  son  of  the  ex- 
bailiff  at  Soulanges,  Bourgogne,-  before  the  Revolution. 
About  1 791,  after  being  for  five  years  the  bookkeeper  to  the 
steward  of  Mile.  Laguerre  at  the  Aigues,  he  in  turn  occupied 
the  latter  position.  His  father,  the  bailiff,  had  meanwhile 
become  the  public  prosecutor  of  the  department,  under  the 
Republic  ;  at  the  same  period  he  was  appointed  mayor  of 
Blangy.     Married  in  1796  to  the  citizeness  Isaure  Mouchon, 


202  COMPENDIUM 

he  had  three  children  ;  a  boy,  Claude,  and  two  daughters, 
Jenny  (Mme.  Leclercq)  and  Elisa.  He  had  also  a  natural 
son,  Bournier,  whom  he  established  as  manager  of  a  printing- 
office  and  of  a  local  sheet.  On  the  death  of  Mile.  Laguerre, 
after  twenty-five  years  of  administration  as  steward,  Gaubertin 
possessed  six  hundred  thousand  francs ;  he  finished  by  dream- 
ing of  acquiring  the  Aigues  estate,  but  Comte  de  Montcornet 
bought  it,  giving  him  charge  as  manager ;  surprising  him  in 
his  stealings  he  incontinently  and  ignominiously  drove  him 
off  the  place.  Gaubertin  received  a  few  cuts  from  a  whip, 
which  made  him  vow  vengeance.  The  old  steward  became 
nothing  less  than  a  great  personage.  In  1820  he  was  mayor 
of  Ville-aux-Fayes  and  furnished  a  third  of  the  lumber  taken 
in  Paris  ;  he  was  general  agent  of  that  trade  in  that  country 
and  directed  the  exploitations  in  the  forest,  the  cutting,  stor- 
age, and  so  forth.  By  his  genealogical  relationships  Gau- 
bertin embraced  all  the  arrondissement,  like  a  **  boa  constrictor 
twisted  around  a  gigantic  tree";  the  church,  the  magistra- 
ture,  the  municipality,  the  administration  marched  to  his 
piping.  The  peasants  themselves  indirectly  served  his  inter- 
ests. At  the  time  when  the  general  was  disgusted  with  num- 
berless vexations  and  sold  the  Aigues,  Gaubertin  acquired  the 
woods  and  a  fine  pavilion,  while  his  accomplices,  Rigou  and 
Soudry,  obtained  the  vineyards  and  the  other  lots  [The  Peas- 
antry, JK]. 

Gaubertin,  Madame,  nee  Isaure  Mouchon,  in  1778. 
The  daughter  of  a  Conventionalist,  a  friend  of  Gaubertin's 
father ;  wife  of  Frangois  Gaubertin  ;  she  primly  played,  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  tlie  part  of  a  fine  woman  of  fashion  and 
elegance  v/ith  great  effect;  she  was  dominated  by  **  passionate 
virtue."  In  1823  she  had  the  public  prosecutor  as  her  at- 
tendant— her  *'  patito,"  she  said  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Gaubertin,  Claude,  son  of  Frangois  Gaubertin,  godchild 
of  Mile.  Laguerre,  at  whose  expense  he  was  educated  at  Paris ; 
the  busiest  attorney  in  Ville-aux-Fayes,  in  1823;  he  talked; 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  203 

after  five  years'  practice,  of  selling  his  connection.  He  prob- 
ably became  a  judge  [The  Peasantry,  JS]. 

Gaubertin,  Jenny,  eldest  daughter  of  Francois  Gaubertin. 
See  Leclercq,  Madame. 

Gaubertin,  Elisa,  or  Elise,  second  daughter  of  Francois 
Gaubertin.  Loved,  courted,  and  hoped  for,  in  1819,  by  the 
sub-prefect  at  Ville-aux-Fayes,  M.  des  Lupeaulx,  nephew. 
M.  Lupin,  the  notary  at  Soulanges,  secured  the  young  girl's 
hand  for  his  only  son,  Amaury  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Gaubertin- Vallat,  Mademoiselle,  in  1823,  an  old  maid, 
the  sister  of  Mine.  Sibilet,  wife  of  the  clerk  of  the  court  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes ;  she  held  the  office  for  the  sale  of  stamped 
papers  in  that  little  town  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Gaucher,  in  1803,  was  Michu's  servant,  who  was  the 
keeper-steward  of  the  Gondreville  estate.  By  his  gossip, 
more  or  less  disinterested,  this  boy  kept  farmer  Violette  duly 
posted  on  the  doings  of  his  master,  who,  for  his  part,  thought 
him  faithful  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Gaudebert,  the  surname  common  to  all  the  masculine 
representatives  of  the  Guenic  house  [Beatrix,  'P\ 

Gaudet,  Maitre  Desroches'  second-clerk,  1824.  Twice  he 
had  a  small  error  in  his  *'  petty  cash  "  account,  and  was  dis- 
missed by  the  advice  of  the  head-clerk,  Godeschal  [A  Start  in 
Life,  s\. 

Gaudin,  captain  of  a  squad  of  grenadiers  in  the  Imperial 
Horse  Guards,  created  baron  of  the  Empire  with  the  endow- 
ment of  Wistchnau  or  Vits-chnau ;  made  a  prisoner  by  the 
Cossacks  at  the  passage  of  the  Beresina,  he  escaped  from  cap- 
tivity by  passing  to  the  Indies,  and  from  thence,  having  never 
learned  any  news,  he  returned  to  France,  about  1830,  suffering 
much,  but  an  '*  archimillionaire  "  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Gaudin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding;  she  kept  the 
hotel   Saint-Quentin,*    Rue    des   Cordiers,    Paris,   under  tlie 

*  This  hotel  has  disappeared;  it  was  here  that  Jean-Jacques  Rosseau 
and  George  Sand  once  lived. 


204  COMPENDIUM 

Restoration.  Among  the  number  of  her  tenants  she  counted 
Raphael  de  Valentin.  She  became  wealthy  and  a  baronne  on 
the  return  of  her  husband,  about  1830  [The  Wild  Ass' 
Skin,  A\ 

Gaudin,  Pauline,  daughter  of  the  two  foregoing;  she 
knew,  loved,  and  delicately  assisted  Raphael  de  Valentin, 
then  poor,  at  the  hotel  Saint-Quentin.  After  the  return  of 
her  father  she  lived  with  her  parents  on  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare. 
For  a  long  time  she  had  not  seen  Raphael,  who  had  suddenly 
left  the  Saint-Quentin;  but  she  was  seen  by  him  one  evening 
at  the  Italiens :  they  fell  into  each  other's  arms  and  declared 
their  mutual  love.  Becoming  rich,  like  as  she  had  become, 
Raphael  resolved  to  marry  Pauline;  but,  frightened  by  the 
shrinkage  of  the  ''ass'  skin,"  he  suddenly  took  flight  and  re- 
turned to  Paris.  Pauline  hastened  after  him  ;  she  saw  he  was 
dying  when  she  discovered  her  lover ;  he,  by  a  supreme  access 
of  love,  furious  and  impotent,  at  the  last  moment  set  his  teeth 
in  Pauline's  breast  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Gaudissart,  Jean-Francois,  father  of  Felix  Gaudissart 
[C6sar  Birotteau,  O]- 

Gaudissart,  Felix  (the  Great),  born  in  Normandy  in 
the  year  1792;  commercial-traveler  or  drummer.  He  made 
a  specialty  of  the  sale  of  hats,  continuing  in  the  service  of 
Andoche  Finot,  after  having  served  his  father ;  he  also  sold 
the  article  de  Paris.  In  18 16  he  was  arrested  at  the  instance 
of  Peyrade  (Father  Canquoelle).  He  had  most  imprudently 
given  air  to  his  sentiments  in  the  Cafe  David  while  this  half- 
soldier,  half-officer  was  by  his  side — and  divulged  the  particu- 
lars of  a  conspiracy  against  the  Bourbons.  Two  of  his  accom- 
plices were  executed.  Gaudissart's  case  came  before  Judge 
Popinot,  who,  after  his  condemnation,  used  his  influence  to 
obtain  a  pardon  for  him.  Anselme  Popinot  obtained  Gaudis- 
sart the  position  as  manager  of  a  boulevard  theatre;  in  1834 
it  was  opened  with  the  intention  of  rendering  opera  at  popu- 
lar  prices.     At    this   theatre  were   employed   Sylvain    Pons, 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  205 

Schmucke,  Wilhelm  Schwab,  Garangeot,  and  Heloi'se  Brise- 
tout,  the  latter  Felix's  mistress.  The  director  there,  who  was 
under  his  command,  was  treated  in  a  brutal  manner,  but  from 
motives  of  policy  he  did  not  interfere  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, !F— Cousin  Pons,  oc\.  Gaudissart  the  Great,  when 
young,  assisted  at  the  family  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau, 
in  December,  1818;  a  few  blamed  the  perfumer  for  his  lav- 
ishness.  At  this  time  he  was  a  constant  visitor  of  the  Rue 
Deux  Ecus  and  a  frequenter  of  the  Vaudeville  *  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O].  Under  the  Restoration  (as  a  pretended  dealer  in 
artificial  flowers),  by  the  good  offices  of  Judge  Popinot,  he, 
for  the  Comte  Octave  de  Bauvan,  paid  exorbitant  prices  to 
Bauvan's  wife  for  the  flowers  made  by  Honorine ;  she  ''  liked 
the  pieces  of  gold  that  were  given  her  by  Gaudissart,  as  much 
as  Lord  Byron  liked  those  given  him  by  Murray  "  [Hono- 
rine, A^].  At  Vouvray,  in  1831,  this  man  assumed  his  old 
habits  as  a  drummer,  where  he  had  a  droll  adventure,  being 
mystified  by  a  lunatic,  to  whom  he  was  sent  by  one  Vernier. 
A  duel  was  the  result.  After  this  adventure  Gaudissart  again 
assumes  the  place  of  vantage.  He  was  the  lover  (at  the 
time  of  Saint-Simonism)  of  Jenny  Courand  [Gaudissart  the 
Great,  o\. 

Gaudron,  Abbe,  vicar,  then  cure  of  Paul-Saint-Louis* 
church.  Rue  Saint-Antoine,  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  and 
the  government  of  July.  A  peasant  full  of  faith,  he  cared  for 
high  and  low  alike,  in  complete  ignorance  of  the  world  and 
literature.  He  was  Isidore  Baudoyer's  confessor,  and  worked 
for  the  advancement  of  that  incapable  to  become  chief  of  a 
division  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  1824.  In  the  same  year 
he  was  present  at  the  house  of  Comte  Octave  de  Bauvan,  at  a 
dinner,  where  were  present  Messrs.  de  Serizy,  de  Granville, 
Maurice  d'Hostal,  Abbe  Loraux,  cure  of  the  Blancs-Manteaux, 

*  This  theatre  was  once  situated  on  the  Rue  de  Chartres,  near  the 
Place  des  Palais-Royal ;  of  these  two  places  the  first  has  entirely  disap- 
peared, and  the  second  has  been  much  changed. 


206  COMPENDIUM 

who  agitated  the  question  of  woman,  marriage,  and  adultery 
[Les  Employes,  cc — Honorine,  Aj].  In  1826  Abbe  Gaudron 
confessed  Mme.  Clapart  and  threw  into  devotional  habits  "the 
old  Aspasia  of  the  Directory,"  who  had  not  been  seen  at  the 
"  footstool  of  penitence  "  for  quite  forty  years.  In  February, 
1830,  the  priest  obtained  the  dauphine's  protection  for  Oscar 
Husson,  the  son  by  the  first  marriage  of  Mme.  Clapart,  and 
that  young  man  was  promoted  sub-lieutenant  in  the  regiment 
in  which  he  had  served  as  a  non-commissioned  officer  [A  Start 
in  Life,  s\ 

Gaudry,  Simon,  a  peasant  or  fisherman,  a  Breton ;  he  was 
the  lover  of  "Big  Frelu,"  Pierrette  Cambremer's  nurse  [A 
Seaside  Tragedy,  e\, 

Gault,  warden  at  the  Conciergerie,  May,  1830,  when 
Jacques  Collin  and  Lucien  de  Rubempre  were  confined  there ; 
he  was  then  an  old  man  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;§;]. 

Gay,  a  shoemaker,  Rue  de  la  Michodiere,  Paris,  1821 ;  he 
furnished  boots  for  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  boots  which  were 
delivered  at  Coralie's  house  and  were  there  seen  by  Matifat, 
who  kept  that  actress  when  she  fell  in  love  with  the  poet  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JX]. 

Gazonal,  Sylvestre-Palafox-Castel,  one  of  the  most 
skillful  cloth  manufacturers  in  the  Eastern  Pyrenees,  a  major 
in  the  National  Guard,  September,  1795.  He  went  to  Paris, 
1845,  for  ^^  purpose  of  looking  after  a  great  trial,  and  found 
his  cousin,  Leon  de  Lora,  the  landscape  painter,  who,  with 
Bixiou  the  caricaturist,  took  him  a  tour  and  revealed  to 
him  the  doings  of  the  town  in  the  "  Unconscious  Mummers" 
— dancers,  actresses,  a  detective,  a  painter,  a  fortune-teller 
by  cards,  a  second-hand  clothes  dealer,  hatter,  hair-dresser, 
chiropodist,  janitor,  usurer,  and  politicians.  Thanks  to  his 
two  cicerones,  Gazonel  won  his  suit  and  returned  to  the  prov- 
inces, after  having  been,  contrary  to  his  expressed  opinion, 
cleaned  out  of  notes  and  money  by  Jenny  Cadine,  Dejazet's 
famous  rival  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  ie]. 


CO  ME  DIE   HUMAINE.  -207 

Gendrin,  a  designer,  tenant  of  M.  Molineux's,  Cour 
Batave,*  1818.  According  to  his  landlord,  the  artist  was  a 
profoundly  immoral  man,  who  designed  caricatures  against 
the  government,  staying  in  his  house  with  bad  women  and 
making  the  stairway  "impracticable."  He  had,  "with  an 
infamy  worthy  of  Marat,"  obstinately  refused  to  either  quit 
or  pay  the  rent  for  his  empty  apartments  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Gendrin,  brother-in-law  of  Gaubertin,  the  steward  at  the 
Aigues.  Like  him,  he  married  one  of  the  two  daughters  of 
Mouchon,  the  Conventionalist;  once  a  barrister,  then  for  a 
long  time  judge  of  the  court  of  First  Instance  at  Ville-aux- 
Fayes,  he  afterward  became  president,  by  the  favor  of  Comte 
de  Soulanges,  under  the  Restoration  [The  Peasantry,  jK]. 

Gendrin,  councilor  at  a  court  in  a  chief  place  in  the  de- 
partment of  Bourgogne;  a  distant  relative  of  President  Gendrin, 
of  Ville-aux-Fayes,  who  helped  by  his  favor  to  have  Sibilet 
appointed,  in  181 7,  as  steward  of  Comte  de  Montcornet's 
estate  of  the  Aigues,  in  place  of  Gaubertin,  who  had  been 
dismissed  [The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Gendrin,  only  son  of  the  president  of  the  court  of  Ville- 
aux-Fayes;  registrar  of  mortgages  in  that  sub-prefecture,  1823 
[The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Gendrin- Wattebled,  or  Vatebled;  born  about  1733. 
General  keeper  of  the  waters  and  forests  at  Soulanges,  Bour- 
gogne, since  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.;  he  still  fulfilled  these 
functions  in  1823.  A  nonagenarian,  in  his  lucid  moments  he 
talked  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Tables  of  Marble.  He  had 
reigned  in  Soulanges  before  the  coming  of  Mme.  Soudry,  nee 
Cochet,  the  most  intelligent  woman  in  that  little  town  [The 
Peasantry,  n\ 

General,  Le,  the  particular  name  of  Comte  de  Mortsauf 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Gen  ral-Hardi.  See  Herbomez,  or  Herbomez  d'  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

*  The  Rue  Berger  occupies  a  portion  of  the  site  of  the  Cour  Batave. 


208  COMPENDIUM 

Genestas,  Pierre- Joseph  ;  born  in  1779;  a  cavalry  officer. 
First  the  child  of  the  regiment,  then  a  soldier.  A  sub-lieu- 
tenant in  1802;  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  after  the 
battle  of  Moskowa;  captain  of  a  squad  in  1829.  In  1814  he 
married  the  widow  of  a  subaltern,  Renard,  his  friend,  who 
died  immediately  after ;  a  child  which  she  had  was  acknowl- 
edged by  Genestas,  who,  after  his  adolescence,  confided  him 
to  the  care  of  Doctor  Benassis,  after  that  officer  had  had  a 
talk  with  his  friend  Gravier,  of  Grenoble.  In  December, 
1829,  Genestas  was  -promoted  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  a  regi- 
ment in  garrison  at  Poitiers  [The  Country  Doctor,  C]. 

Genestas,  Madame  Judith,  a  Polish  Jewess;  born  in 
1795,  she  married,  about  1812,  in  the  Sarmatian  manner,  her 
lover,  Francois  Renard,  a  quartermaster,  who  was  killed  in 
1813.  Judith  bore  him  a  son,  Adrien ;  she  survived  his 
father  but  one  year.  In  extremis  she  married  Genestas,  her 
formerly  dismissed  lover,  who  acknowledged  Adrien  [The 
Country  Doctor,  O]. 

Genestas,  Adrien,  the  adopted  son  of  Major  Genestas; 
born  in  181 3  of  Judith,  a  Polish  Jewess,  and  Renard,  the 
Parisian,  a  non-commissioned  cavalry  officer,  who  was  killed 
before  the  birth  of  his  child.  The  living  picture  of  his 
mother,  Adrien  had  the  olive  skin,  beautiful  black  eyes, 
melancholic  and  spiritual,  and  his  head  of  hair  was  too 
much  for  his  weak  body.  At  sixteen  he  looked  to  be  only 
twelve.  A  prey  to  bad  habits,  after  eight  months'  sojourn 
with  Doctor  Benassis,  he  was  cured  and  became  robust  [The 
Country  Doctor,  C]. 

Genevieve,  an  idiotic  peasant-girl,  ugly,  but  relatively 
rich.  The  friend  and  companion  of  Comtesse  de  Vandidres, 
who  had  gone  crazy,  at  the  asylum  of  the  Bons-Hommes, 
near  I'lsle  Adam,  under  the  Restoration.  Deserted  by  a 
mason  called  Dallot,  who  had  promised  to  marry  her,  Gene- 
vieve lost  what  little  intelligence  love  had  generated  in  her 
[Farewell,  e\. 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  209 

Genevieve,  a  stout,  strong  girl;  the Phellions'  cook,  1840. 
They  were  highly  incensed  at  this  time  with  a  little  male  ser- 
vant, aged  fifteen  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Genovese,  a  tenor  singer  at  the  Fenice,*  Venice,  1820. 
Born  at  Bergamo,  1797;  a  pupil  of  Veluti's.  The,  at  that 
time,  platonic  lover  of  la  Tinti,  he  sang  outrageously  bad  in 
the  presence  of  that  prima  donna  for  as  long  as  she  resisted 
him,  but  he  repaid  for  all  when  she  abandoned  herself  to  him 
[Massimilla  Doni,  jf^].  In  the  winter  of  1823-24,  at  Prince 
Gandolphini's,  Geneva,  Genovese  sang  with  his  mistress, 
Princess  Gandolphini,  and  an  Italian  prince  at  that  time  in 
exile,  the  famous  quartette  *' Mi  manca  la  voce"  [Albert 
Savaron,  f\ 

Gentil,  one  of  the  servants  of  the  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu, 
in  May,  1830,  during  the  trial  and  incarceration  of  Lucien 
Chardon  de  Rubempre  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^]. 

Gentil,  an  old  valet  of  Mme.  de  Bargeton's,  at  Angou- 
leme,  under  the  Restoration.  During  the  summer  of  1821, 
with  Albertine  and  Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre,  he  accom- 
panied his  mistress  to  Paris  and  lived  successively  at  the  hotel 
Gaillard-Bois,  near  the  Rue  de  I'Echelle ;  then  on  the  Rue  de 
Luxembourg,  which  became  the  Rue  Cambon  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  ifZ"]. 

Gentillet  went,  in  1835,  i"  ^^  ^^^  caleche  with  Albert 
Savarus  when  he  left  Besangon  after  his  visit  to  Prince  Sode- 
rini,  father  of  the  Duchesse  d'Argaiolo.  The  caleche  belonged 
to  Mme.  de  Saint-Vier  [Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Gentillet,  Madame,  grandmother  on  the  maternal  side  of 
Felix  Grandet.  She  died  in  1806,  leaving  an  important  suc- 
cession. In  Grandet's  ''hall,"  at  Saumur,  he  had  a  pastel 
which  represented  Mme.  Gentillet  as  a  shepherdess.  Eugenie 
Grandet  had  in  her  treasury  three  quadruples  of  Spanish  gold 
of  the  reign  of  Philippe  V.,  minted  in  1729,  given  by  Mme. 
Gentillet  [Eugenie  Grandet,  'E\ 

*  The  boxes  in  the  Fenice  were  private  property. 
14 


210  COMPENDIUM 

Georges,  a  valet  of  the  Comtesse  Foedora  [The  Wild  Ass* 
Skin,  A^ 

Georges,  the  confidential  valet  of  Baron  de  Nucingen,  at 
Paris,  in  the  time  of  Charles  X. ,  who  knew  all  the  particulars 
of  the  amours  of  his  sexagenarian  master,  which  he  assisted  or 
hindered  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  1^]. 

Georges,  Pauline  Gaudin's  coachman.  She  had  become 
a  millionaire,  and  was  then  called  Pauline  de  Wistchnau,  or 
Vitschnau  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\ 

Gerard,  Francois-Pascal-Simon,  Baron,  a  celebrated 
painter,  1770  to  1837;  in  1818  he  obtained  from  Joseph 
Bridau,  then  poor,  two  copies  of  the  portrait  of  Louis  XVIII., 
all  he  got  therefrom  being  one  thousand  francs,  which  went 
to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  Bridau  family  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  «/].  The  Parisian  salon  of  Gerard's,  very 
select  and  fashionable,  was  on  the  Chaussee-d'Antin,  a  rival 
to  that  of  Mile,  des  Touches  [Beatrix,  J^]. 

Gerard,  adjutant-general  of  the  72d  demi-brigade,  com- 
manded by  Hulot.  A  careful  education  had  developed  a 
superior  intelligence  in  Adjutant  Gerard,  who  was  a  thorough 
Republican.  He  was  killed  by  the  Chouan,  Pille-Miche,  at 
la  Vivetiere,  in  December,  1799  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Gerard,  Gregoire;  born  in  1802,  very  probably  in  Li- 
mousin ;  a  protestant,  of  somewhat  ingratiating  appearance ; 
the  son  of  a  working  carpenter  who  had  died  at  an  early  age ; 
the  godson  of  F.  Grossetete.  From  the  time  he  was  twelve  years 
old  he  had  been  directed  by  the  banker  in  the  exact  sciences, 
and  was  at  the  Polytechnique  from  nineteen  to  twenty-one. 
He  afterward  entered  the  school  for  engineers  on  bridges  and 
roads,  leaving  there  at  twenty-four,  passing  as  an  ''  ordinary 
engineer;"  two  years  after.  Gregoire  Gerard,  with  a  cold 
head  and  a  warm  heart,  disgusted  with  his  prospects,  gave  his 
aid  to  the  Journeymen  in  July,  1830.  He  might  at  that 
time  have  adopted  the  doctrines  of  the  Simonists,  when  M. 
Grossetete  got  him  to  accept  the  direction  of  important  works 


CO  MED  IE  HUMAINE.  211 

for  Mme.  Pierre  Graslin,  lady  of  the  manor  of  Montegnac  in 
Haute-Vienne.  Gerard  accomplished  prodigies  with  the  wise 
instructions  of  Fresquin  and  aided  by  the  intelligent  coopera- 
tion of  Bonnet,  Roubaud,  Clousier,  Farrabesche,  and  Ruffin ; 
he  became  mayor  of  that  country  (Montegnac),  in  1838. 
Mme.  Graslin  died  about  1844;  Gregoire  Gerard  followed  the 
wishes  of  the  deceased  and  took  up  his  abode  in  the  chateau ; 
he  took  the  orphaned  Francis  Graslin  as  his  ward  and  pupil. 
Tiiree  years  (months  ?)  afterward,  out  of  respect  to  the  same 
wishes,  Gerard  married  a  young  woman  of  the  district,  Denise 
Tascheron,  the  sister  of  a  man  condemned  to  death  and  exe- 
cuted at  the  close  of  the  year  1829  [The  Country  Parson,  F~\. 

Gerard,  Madame  Gregoire,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Tascheron,  Denise,  of  Montegnac  in  Limousin,  the  youngest 
child  of  a  large  family.  She  lavished  her  fraternal  affection 
on  Jean-Francois  Tascheron,  who  was  sentenced  to  death; 
she  visited  the  prisoner  and  softened  his  ferocious  humor; 
seconded  by  another  of  her  brothers,  Louis-Marie,  she  de- 
stroyed certain  compromising  traces  of  her  eldest  brother's 
crime,  and  then  made  restitution  of  the  stolen  money.  She 
shortly  after  this  left  the  country  and  went  to  America,  where 
she  became  wealthy.  Seized  with  nostalgia,  she  returned  to 
France  five  years  later;  at  Montegnac  she  recognized  and 
kissed  Francis  Graslin,  her  natural  nephew,  to  whom  she  be- 
came a  second  mother  when  she  married  Gregoire  Gerard, 
the  civil  engineer.  The  marriage  between  that  protestant 
and  the  Catholic  took  place  in  1844.  By  her  grace  and 
modesty,  her  piety  and  her  beauty,  Mme.  Gerard  resembled 
the  heroine  in  ''Edinburgh  Prison"  [The  Country  Par- 
son, Fl. 

Gerard,  Madame,  an  honest,  poor  woman ;  a  widow,  the 
mother  of  grown-up  daughters,  who  kept  in  Paris,  about  the 
end  of  the  Restoration,  a  furnished-room  house,  situated  on  the 
Rue  Louis-Grand.  Having  had  as  a  lodger  Mme.  Theodore 
Gaillard,  she  Vv-elcomed   Suzanne   du  Val-Noble  when   that 


212  COMPENDIUM 

courtesan  was  expelled  her  splendid  apartments  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Georges,  caused  by  the  ruin  and  flight  of  the  one 
who  ''kept  her,"  Jacques  Falleix,  the  stockbroker.  Mme. 
Gerard  was  no  relation  of  the  foregoing  Gerards  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y^  Z\ 

Germain,  the  name  by  which  Bonnet,  Canalis*  valet,  was 
habitually  called  [Modeste  Mignon,  'K.\ 

Giardini,  a  Neapolitan  cook,  quite  aged,  and  married. 
Assisted  by  his  wife,  he  kept  a  table- d' hdte,  Rue  Froidman- 
teau,  Paris,  in  1830-31.  Previous  to  this  he  had  established 
three  several  restaurants  in  Italy :  at  Naples,  Parma,  and  Rome. 
In  the  early  years  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  his  '*  insensate" 
cookery  nourished  Paolo  Gambara.  In  1837  this  altogether 
foolish  "sublime"  restaurateur  had  fallen  to  be  a  dealer  in 
*'  second-hand  food,"  without,  however,  leaving  the  Rue  Froid- 
manteau  [Gambara,  &6]. 

Giboulard,  Gatienne,  Auxerre,  the  very  handsome  daugh- 
ter of  a  wealthy  carpenter;  Sarcus,  about  1823,  vainly  desired 
her  as  his  wife,  but  could  not  obtain  the  paternal  consent  of 
''Sarcus  le  Riche."  Soon  after  the  frequenters  of  Mme. 
Soudry's  salon,  who  represented  the  first  society  of  a  neigh- 
boring small  town,  had  thoughts  of  using  her  in  their  base 
schemes  against  M.  and  Mme.  de  Montcornet;  she  might, 
perhaps,  even  be  used  to  compromise  Abbe  Brossette  [The 
Peasantry,  _R]. 

Gigelmi,  once  conductor  of  the  Italian  orchestra,  a  refugee 
in  Paris,  together  with  the  Gambaras,  after  the  Revolution  of 
1830;  he  took  his  meals  at  Giardini's,  on  the  Rue  Froidman- 
teau.  To  all  praise  of  Beethoven  Gigelmi  was  more  inclined 
to  deafness  than  usual  [Gambara,  hh\ 

Gigonnet,  the  picturesque  and  significant  nickname  given 
to  Bidault.     See  that  name. 

Giguet,  Colonel  ;  perhaps  originally  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  to 
which  he  had  retired ;  one  of  Mme.  Marion's  brothers.  An 
officer  much  esteemed  in  the  grande  armee ;  of  a  character 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  213 

both  honest  and  refined ;  for  eleven  years  simply  a  captain  of 
artillery  of  the  Guard,  chief  of  battalion,  1813,  major  in  1814; 
out  of  attachment  to  Napoleon  he  refused  to  serve  the  Bour- 
bons after  his  first  abdication,  and  gave  proof  of  his  devotion 
to  him,  in  1815,  when  he  would  have  been  banished  had  not 
the  Comte  de  Gondreville  intervened  ;  he  also  had  the  credit 
for  obtaining  a  pension  and  the  retiring  grade  of  colonel  for 
Giguet.  About  1806  he  married  one  of  the  daughters  of  a 
rich  banker  in  Hamburg,  who  bore  him  three  children,  and 
who  died  in  1814.  He  also  lost  his  two  youngest  children  in 
i8i8  and  1825,  which  left  him  a  sole  surviving  son,  Simon. 
A  Bonapartist  and  Liberal,  the  colonel,  during  the  Restora- 
tion, was  president  of  the  Directory  Committee  at  Arcis,  and 
there  rubbed  shoulders  with  the  heads  of  the  families  Grevin, 
Beauvisage,  and  Varlet,  all  notabilities  on  the  same  side.  He 
abandoned  militant  politics,  when  his  ideas  triumphed,  and, 
under  Louis-Philippe,  became  a  past-master  in  horticulture, 
and  was  the  creator  of  the  celebrated  Giguet  rose.  Never- 
theless, the  colonel  remained  the  idol  of  his  sister's  very  influ- 
ential salon,  where  he  is  seen  at  the  time  of  the  legislative 
elections  of  1839.  In  the  first  part  of  May  of  that  year  the 
little,  but  well  preserved,  old  man  presided  at  Frappart's  hall 
at  an  election  meeting,  the  candidates  being  his  own  son, 
Maitre  Simon  Giguet,  Phileas  Beauvisage,  and  Sallenauve- 
Dorlange  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Z>J>]. 

Giguet,  Colonel,  brother  of  the  foregoing  and  Mme. 
Marion,  was  a  corporal  of  gendarmes  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  in 
1803.  He  passed  to  lieutenant  in  1806.  As  a  corporal 
Giguet  was  one  of  the  most  intelligent  men  in  the  legion. 
The  commander  at  Troyes  informed  the  Parisian  police-detec- 
tives, Peyrade  and  Corentin,  who  were  instructed  to  investi- 
gate the  doings  of  the  Simeuses  and  Hauteserres,  of  their  acts, 
which  brought  about  the  loss  of  those  young  Royalists  in  con- 
sequence of  the  fictitious  abduction  of  Gondreville.  However, 
a  cunning  trick  of  little  Francois  Michu  trapped  Corporal 


214  COMPENDIUM 

Giguet,  who  intended  seizing  the  conspirators,  who  thus  made 
good  their  retreat.  Promoted  a  lieutenant,  he,  after  their 
arrest,  became  colonel  of  gendarmes  at  Troyes,  whither  he 
followed  Mme.  Marion,  then  Mile.  Giguet.  Colonel  Giguet 
died  before  his  brother  and  sister,  and  constituted  Mme. 
Marion  his  universal  legatee  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)iy\. 

Giguet,  Simon;  born  under  the  first  Empire;  the  eldest 
and  sole  surviving  child  of  Giguet,  the  colonel  of  artillery. 
He  lost  his  mother  in  1814 ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy 
banker  of  Hamburg,  and,  in  1826,  his  maternal  grandfather 
turned  over  to  him  an  income  of  two  thousand  francs  per 
year,  the  German  having  to  study  the  remainder  of  his  own 
large  family.  He  had  little  hope  of  inheriting  more  than  his 
paternal  aunt's  fortune,  which  was  larger  than  that  of  his 
father's,  and  had  beside  that  coming  from  Giguet  of  the 
gendarmes.  So,  after  having  studied  under  Antonin  Gou- 
lard, the  sub-prefect,  Simon  Giguet,  frustrated  of  a  fortune 
which  he  fully  expected,  became  a  barrister  in  the  little 
town  of  Arcis,  where  barristers  were  but  seldom  needed.  The 
position  of  his  father  and  aunt  made  him  ambitious  for  a 
political  career.  Giguet  at  this  time  was  a  pretender  to  the 
hand  and  dowry  o'f  Cecile  Beauvisage.  A  man  of  the  Left- 
Centre  party,  by  all  account,  of  only  mediocre  ability,  he 
heard  of  the  coming  elections  in  May,  1839,  and  announced 
his  candidature  for  deputy  for  the  arrondissement  of  Arcis- 
sur-Aube  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DX>]. 

Gilet,  Maxence;  born  in  1789.  In  Issoudun  he  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  natural  son  of  M.  Lousteau,  substitute  judge ; 
others  gave  him  Doctor  Rouget  as  his  father,  the  friend  and 
at  the  same  time  the  rival  of  Lousteau.  To  sum  up,  "  luckily 
for  the  child,  the  doctor  and  substitute  each  disputed  the 
other's  paternity."  Now,  as  a  fact,  he  looked  to  belong 
neither  to  the  one  nor  the  other,  his  real  father  being  ''a 
charming  officer  of  dragoons  in  garrison  at  Bourges."     His 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.      '  215 

mother,  the  wife  of  a  poor  sabot-maker  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  faubourg  de  Rome  at  Issoudun,  had  the  marvelous 
beauty  of  a  "  Transteverine."  Her  husband  knew  of  his 
wife's  infidelities  and  profited  thereby ;  for  his  own  advantage 
he  allowed  both  the  substitute  and  Dr.  Rouget  to  believe  that 
each  was  the  parent  of  the  child,  so  that  both  one  and  the 
other  should  concurrently  assist  in  the  education  of  Maxence, 
commonly  spoken  of  as  Max.  In  1806,  when  seventeen  years 
old,  Max  enlisted  in  a  regiment  then  on  its  way  to  Spain ;  in 
1809,  in  Portugal,  he  was  left  for  dead  in  an  English  battery; 
he  was  taken  by  the  English  and  sent  to  the  Spanish  hulks  at 
Cabrera;  Gilet  stayed  there  from  1810  to  181 4.  When  he 
returned  to  Issoudun,  his  father  and  mother  were  dead  at  the 
hospital.  On  Bonaparte's  return  Max  served  in  the  Imperial 
Guard  as  captain.  Under  the  second  Restoration  he  again 
returned  to  Issoudun  and  became  the  chief  of  the  *' Knights 
of  Idlesse,"  who  enlivened  themselves  with  nocturnal  Byronic 
recreations  more  or  less  agreeable  to  the  town's  folk.  "  Max,  at 
Issoudun,  played  a  part  very  similar  to  that  of  the  'Armorer  in 
the  Fair  Maid  of  Perth ' ;  he  was  the  champion  of  Bonaparte  and 
the  Opposition.  He  was  looked  to  on  great  occasions  as  the 
good  men  of  Perth  looked  to  Smith.  A  fray  gave  the  hero  and 
the  victim  of  the  hundred  days  his  opportunity."  Caesar 
Borgia  could  not  cover  more  ground  than  Gilet;  he  lived  well, 
although  devoid  of  personal  resources.  This  is  why :  Max,  on 
the  strength  of  being  the  natural  brother  of  Jean-Jacques 
Rouget,  an  old,  wealthy,  inept  bachelor,  who  was  dominated 
by  his  servant-mistress,  Flore  Brazier  (called  la  Rabouilleuse), 
was  installed  in  his  home.  From  1816  Gilet  reigned  in  that 
household ;  the  pretty  boy  had  conquered  the  heart  of  Mile. 
Brazier.  Surrounded  by  a  kind  of  major-state,  in  which 
Potel,  Renard,  Kouski,  Frangois  Hochon,  and  Baruch  Bor- 
niche  figured,  Maxence  forthwith  coveted  for  himself  the 
very  important  succession  of  Rouget's;  he  worked  his 
schemes  in  a  marvelous  manner  against  two  of  the  legitimate 


216  COMPENDIUM 

heirs,  Agathe  and  Joseph  Bridau,  and  he  would  have  appro- 
priated it  but  for  the  intervention  of  a  third  one,  Philippe 
Bridau.  Max  was  killed  by  Philippe  in  a  duel  in  the  early- 
part  of  December,  1822  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  ejT]. 

Gille,  an  old  printer  to  the  Emperor;  he  possessed  several 
fonts  of  type  that  Jerome-Nicolas  Sechard  used  in  1819,  and 
maintained  that  these'  types  were  the  fathers  of  the  Messrs. 
Didots'  English  types  [Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Gina,  a  character  in  "  I'Ambitieux  par  amour,"  an  auto- 
biographical novel  by  Albert  Savarus,  published  in  his  "Revue 
de  TEst,"  under  Louis-Philippe,  disguising  a  certain  *' fero- 
cious" Sormano.  She  is  represented  as  a  young  Sicilian 
woman  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Gandolphinis  for 
fourteen  years;  this  family  were  proscribed  refugees,  in  1823, 
at  Gersau,  Switzerland ;  devoted  to  their  interests,  she  pre- 
tended to  be  a  mute,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  stab  Rudolphe, 
the  hero  of  the  romance,  when  he  showed  a  lack  of  discretion 
[Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Gina,  in  1836,  at  Genoa,  in  the  service  of  M.  and  Mme. 
Maurice  de  I'Hostal  [Honorine,  Jz\. 

Ginetta,  a  Corsican  young  girl.  Very  small,  slight,  but 
not  a  little  cunning ;  the  mistress  of  Theodore  Calvi  and  his 
accomplice  in  the  double  crime  committed  by  her  lover,  about 
the  end  of  the  Restoration  ;  in  fact,  she  had  been  able,  thanks 
to  her  slender  shape,  to  creep  into  the  house  of  the  widow 
Pigeau  through  the  bake-oven ;  in  turn,  she  opened  the  door 
of  the  house  to  Theodore,  who  killed  and  despoiled  the 
two  occupants — the  widow  and  her  servant  [Vautrin's  Last 
Avatar,  »\ 

Girard,  under  the  Restoration,  a  bank  cashier,  Paris; 
perhaps  he  also  acted  as  a  usurer ;  he  knew  Jean-Esther  van 
Gobseck.  Like  Palma,  Werbrust,  and  Gigonnet,  Girard 
owned  a  lot  of  acceptances  signed  by  Maxime  de  Trailles, 
and  Gobseck,  whom  he  knew,  turned  them  to  his  profit 
against  the  count,  the  lover  of  Mme.  de  Restaud,  at  the  time 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  217 

when  Trailles  vainly  implored  for  money  on  the  Rue  des  Gres 
[M.  Gobseck,  r/]. 

Girard,  Mother,  who  kept  a  modest  restaurant,  Rue  de 
Tournon,  Paris,  before  1838;  she  had  a  successor,  in  whose 
house  Godefroid  promised  to  take  his  board  when  he  went  on 
a  tour  of  inspection  on  the  extreme  left  bank  of  the  Seine  and 
afforded  help  to  the  Bourlac-Mergi  families  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T\ 

Girardet,  an  attorney  at  Besangon,  between  1830  and 
1840.  A  verbose  man,  a  partisan  of  Albert  Savarus,  he  fol- 
lowed, most  likely  for  him,  the  beginning  of  a  trial  in  which 
the  interests  of  the  Wattevilles  had  been  assailed.  When 
Albert  Savaron  de  Savarus  abruptly  left  Besangon,  Girardet 
took  charge  of  his  business  and  lent  him  five  thousand  francs 
[Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Giraud,  Leon,  was  a  member  of  the  Cenacle,  1821,  pre- 
sided over  by  Daniel  d'Arthez,  Rue  des  Quatre-Vents,  Paris. 
He  represented  the  philosophical  element.  His  "doctrines" 
predicted  the  end  of  Christianity  and  the  family.  Giraud,  in 
that  same  year  (1821).  managed  an  Opposition  newspaper, 
*'  dignified  and  serious."  He  became  the  head  of  a  school  of 
morals  and  politics  in  which  "sincerity  compensated  for  mis- 
takes" [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  M.\  Pretty 
near  the  same  date  Giraud  frequented  the  home  of  his  friend 
Joseph  Bridau,  and  was  there  at  the  time  when  the  painter's 
eldest  brother  compromised  himself  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, e7].  The  Revolution  of  July  opened  a  political  career 
to  Leon  Giraud,  a  master  of  requests  in  1832,  then  a  councilor 
of  State ;  he  was  in  accord  with  Louis-Philippe  for  having 
funeral  honors  paid  Chrestien,  the  combatant  of  Saint-Merri's. 
In  1845,  ^<^o^  ^is  seat  in  the  chamber  on  the  Left-Centre 
benches  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z — The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  vl\. 

Gireix,  of  Vizay.  A  relative  of  Farrabesche's,  he  earned 
one  hundred  Louis  for  delivering  him  up  to  the  gendarmes. 


218  COMPENDIUM 

Farrabesche  did  not  remain  one  single  night  in  the  Lubersac 
prison  [The  Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Girel,  of  Troyes.  As  said  of  Michu,  and  like  him,  under 
the  first  Revolution,  Girel  was  also  Royalist,  under  a  Jacobin 
cloak,  for  his  own  advantage.  From  1803  to  1806,  at  least, 
he  was  in  correspondence  with  the  firm  of  Breintmayer,  of 
Strasbourg,  who  acted  as  agents  for  the  twins  of  the  Simeuse 
family,  and  who  were  tracked  by  Bonaparte's  police  [A  His- 
torical Mystery,  ff\ 

Girodet,  Anne-Louis,  a  celebrated  painter,  born  at  Mon- 
targis,  1767;  died  at  Paris  in  1824.  Under  the  Empire  he  was 
in  friendly  intercourse  with  his  colleague,  Theodore  de  Som- 
mervieux ;  in  his  atelier  he  one  day  vastly  admired  the  portrait 
of  Augustine  Guillaume  and  an  interior  scene,  which  he  vainly 
discountenanced  him  sending  to  the  salon,  saying  there  was  too 
much  linen  in  it  to  suit  the  public.  He  added:  ''You  see, 
these  two  works  will  not  be  appreciated.  Such  true  coloring, 
such  prodigious  work  cannot  yet  be  understood ;  the  public  is 
not  accustomed  to  such  depths.  The  pictures  we  paint,  my 
dear  fellow,  are  mere  screens.  We  should  do  better  to  turn 
rhymes,  and  translate  the  antique  poets"  [At  the  Sign  of  the 
Cat  and  Racket,  t\ 

Giroud,  Abbe,  Rosalie  de  Watteville's  confessor,  at  Be- 
san^on,  between  1830  and  1840  [Albert  Savaron, /]. 

Giroudeau ;  born  about  1774.  The  uncle  of  Andoche 
Finot ;  he  was  a  simple  cavalryman  in  the  army  of  the  Sambre 
and  Meuse;  in  five  years  was  master-at-arms  in  the  First 
Hussars  (of  the  army  of  Italy) ;  he,  with  Colonel  Chabert, 
had  command  at  Eylau.  He  passed  into  the  dragoons  of  the 
Imperial  Guard.  Giroudeau  was  a  captain  therein  in  1815. 
The  Restoration  interrupted  his  military  career,  Finot  man- 
aged divers  Parisian  reviews  and  other  sheets ;  to  him  was 
confided  the  writing  of  a  little  newspaper  specially  consecrated 
to  dramatic  articles,  and  of  which  he  had  the  management 
from    1 82 1    to   1822.      Giroudeau  was   also    the   responsible 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  ^1$ 

manager ;  and  replied  with  arms  to  the  provocations  concern- 
ing the  soldier,  who  for  the  rest  lived  a  jolly  life.  Although 
he  had  catarrh,  he  had  as  his  mistress  Florentine  Cabirolle,  of 
the  Gaite.  He  frequently  met  those  of  his  own  sort,  among 
others  an  old  comrade,  the  eldest  Bridau.  He  also  assisted 
as  a  witness  on  his  marriage  to  the  widow  of  Jean-Jacques 
Rouget,  1824.  Frederic  Marest,  in  November,  1825,  gave  a 
grand  breakfast  of  welcome  to  the  clerks  of  Maitre  Desroches, 
and  there  Giroudeau  made  a  convivial  guest  at  the  Rocher 
de  Cancale,  kept  by  the  famous  Borel ;  he  was  also  one  of  the 
others  seen  at  Florentine  Cabirolle's  apartments  that  same 
evening,  on  the  Rue  de  Vendome,  where  little  Oscar  Husson 
most  involuntarily  compromised  himself.  Ex-captain  Girou- 
deau made  little  of  his  three  glorious  exploits ;  he  returned  to 
the  service  after  the  advent  of  the  crowned-citizen,  and  be- 
came in  time  colonel,  and  then  general,  1834-35.  At  this 
time  he  sought  satisfaction  for  his  legitimate  resentment 
against  his  old  friend  Philippe  Bridau,  and  did  all  he  could 
to  impede  his  advancement  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  J/— A  Start  in  Life,  8 — A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, «7]. 

Givry,  one  of  the  numerous  names  of  the  second  son  of 
the  Due  de  Chaulieu,  who  became,  through  his  marriage  with 
Madeleine  de  Mortsauf,  a  Lenoncourt-Givry-Chaulieu  [Letters 
of  Two  Brides,  i;— The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X— The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y\ 

Gobain,  Madame  Marie,  an  old  cook  to  a  bishop,  living 
in  Paris,  under  the  Restoration,  on  the  Rue  Saint-Maur,  in 
the  Popincourt  quarter,  in  good  style.  Marie  Gobain  there 
served  Octave  de  Bauvan.  She  was  chambermaid  and  woman 
in  charge  for  Comtesse  Honorine,  who  had  flown  away  from 
the  old  conjugal  mansion  and  had  become  an  artificial  flower- 
maker.  Madame  Gobain  had  been  secretly  obtained  by  M. 
de  Bauvan,  who,  in  some  sort,  mysteriously  lived  in  the  life 
of  his  wife.     Although  looking  after  her  mistress  on  account 


220  COMPENDIUM 

of  her  husband,  she  was  not  so  devoted  but  that  she  introduced 
into  Honorine's  house  Maurice  de  THostal,  Octave's  secre- 
tary. At  one  time  the  countess  took  the  name  of  her  servant 
[Honorine,  /?]. 

Gobenheim,  brother-in-law  of  Francois  and  Adolphe 
Keller,  whose  names  Were  joined  the  same  as  his  own.  About 
1819,  at  Paris,  he  was  the  first  appointed  "judge-commissary  " 
in  Cesar  Birotteau's  failure,  being  afterward  replaced  by  Ca- 
musot  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  Under  Louis-Philippe,  Goben- 
heim, a  stockbroker  in  Paris,  looked  after  the  pretty  handsome 
savings  of  Mme.  Fabien  du  Ronceret  [Beatrix,  'P\ 

Gobenheim,  nephew  of  Gobenheim-Keller,  Paris;  a  young 
banker  at  1' Havre,  in  1829  ;  a  frequent  caller  on  the  Mignons, 
without  seeking  their  heiress,  Marie-Modeste  [Modeste  Mig- 
non,  ^]. 

Gobet,  Madame,  in  1829,  at  1' Havre;  Mme.  and  Mile. 
Mignon's  shoemaker,  and  grumbled  at  by  Marie-Modeste  for 
the  inelegant  boots  and  shoes  which  she  furnished  her  [Mo- 
deste Mignon,  JS7]. 

Gobseck,  Jean-Esther  van,  a  usurer,  born  in  1740,  at 
Antwerp,  of  a  Jew  and  a  Dutchwoman  ;  he  began  by  being 
blunt.  He  was  not  more  than  ten  years  old  when  his  mother 
embarked  for  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  In  India  or  America 
Jean-Esther  became  acquainted  with  M.  de  Lally,  Admiral  de 
Simeuse,  M.  de  Kergarouet,  M.  d'Estaing,  M.  de  Portenduere, 
Lord  Cornwallis,  Lord  Hastings,  Tippo-Sahib,  and  his  father. 
He  had  transactions  with  Victor  Hughes  and  a  number  of 
famous  corsairs ;  he  traveled  the  world  and  exercised  his  craft 
everywhere.  The  passion  for  money  had  entire  hold  upon 
him.  The  heaping  up  of  gold  and  power,  the  result  of  his 
avarice,  was  his  only  joy.  He  arrived  in  Paris  and  there  be- 
came the  head-centre  of  numerous  businesses,  establishing 
himself  on  the  Rue  des  Gres — to-day  the  Rue  Cujas ;  there 
Gobseck,  arrayed  in  his  dressing-gown,  had  audience  with  the 
elegant  Maxime  de  Trailles  and  was  melted  by  the  tears  of 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  221 

Mme.  de  Restaud  and  those  of  Jean-Joachim  Goriot,  1819. 
About  the  same  time,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet,  also  after  the 
money,  had  an  "  operation  "  with  him  and  saluted  "  Gobseck 
the  great,  the  master  of  Palma,  Gigonnet,  Werbrust,  Keller, 
and  Nucingen."  Jean-Esther,  always  sure  of  meeting  his 
friend  Bidault-Gigonnet,  went  each  evening  to  the  Cafe 
Themis,  between  the  Rue  Dauphine  and  Quai  des  Augus- 
tins,  to  have  a  game  of  dominoes,  1824.  He  was  called  out 
from  there  by  Elisabeth  Baudoyer,  to  whom  he  promised  his 
intervention,  in  December  of  the  same  year :  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Gobseck,  flanked  by  Mitral,  gained  over  Clement  Chardin 
des  Lupeaulx,  of  whom  they  made  themselves  creditors,  and 
thus  brought  about  the  nomination  of  Isidore  Baudoyer  as 
successor  to  the  late  chief  of  the  division,  Flamet  de  la  Bil- 
lardiere.  In  1830  Jean-Esther,  an  octogenarian,  and  living 
most  sordidly  on  the  Rue  des  Gres,  had  become  enormously 
wealthy.  The  last  wishes  of  the  miser  were  given  to  Derville. 
We  know  that  Gobseck  was  the  cause  of  Derville's  marriage 
and  that  he  was  received  with  friendliness  in  the  latter's 
household.  Fifteen  years  after  the  death  of  the  Dutchman 
the  ''Parisian  of  the  Boulevards"*  described  him  as  **the 
last  of  the  Romans."  He  had  a  most  peculiar  signature, 
which  showed  the  talons  of  a  bird-of-prey 
[Gobseck,  g — Father  Goriot,  6r— Cesar 
Birotteau,  O — Les  Employes,  CC — The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  if]. 

Gobseck,  Sarah  van,  called  the  Handsome  Dutchwoman. 
It  was  a  particular  token  of  the  Gobseck  family — as  also  in 
that  of  the  Maranas — that  the  female  line  always  preserved  the 
first  patronymic  designation  ;  thus  Sarah  van  Gobseck  was  the 
great-niece  of  Jean-Esther  van  Gobseck.  That  prostitute,  the 
mother  of  Esther,  another  woman  of  gallantry,  had  the  nature 
and  manners  of  the  Paris  girls ;  she  conduced  to  Birotteau's 
notary's  failure,  Maitre  Roguin,  and  was  in  time  ruined  by 

*  Bixiou. 


peculiar  bigiia-iurc, 


222  COMPENDIUM 

Maxime  de  Trailles,  whom  she  worshiped  and  kept  when  he 
was  a  simple  page  to  Napoleon  the  first.  She  died  in  a  house 
of  the  Palais-Royal,  seized  by  a  rush  of  love  and  furious  folly, 
December,  1818.  Sarah  Gobseck's  memory  survived  for  a 
long  time;  from  1824  to  1839  the  prodigalities  and  outrageous 
life  of  the  courtesan  were  common  talk  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — 
The  Maranas,  e — The  Harlot's  Progress,  1^— The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  Diy\. 

Gobseck,  Esther  van,  born  in  1805,  of  Jewish  origin  ; 
daughter  of  the  preceding  and  great-great-niece  of  Jean- 
Esther  van  Gobseck.  For  a  long  time  she  followed  a  similar 
life  to  her  mother,  in  Paris,  which  she  began  early  in  her 
existence  and  of  which  she  knew  what  chances  she  was  taking. 
She  was  very  quickly  given  the  significant  nickname  of  *Ma 
Torpille."  For  some  time  she  was  a  "  rat  "  at  the  Academie 
Royal  de  Musique,  and  counted  among  those  by  whom  she  had 
been  kept  Clement  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx;  very  stiff  and 
awkward,  1823,  she  was  a  failure  in  Paris,  and  left  there  for 
Issoudun,  where,  for  a  Machiavellian  end,  Philippe  Bridau 
would  have  given  her  as  mistress  to  Jean-Jacques  Rouget,  on 
the  collective  advice  of  Nathan,  Florine,  Bixiou,  Finot, 
Mariette,  Florentine,  Giroudeau,  and  Tullia.  The  affair 
failed ;  Esther  Gobseck  heard  in  the  house  of  the  tolerance 
of  Mme.  Meynardie,  whom  she  had  deserted  about  the  end 
of  1823.  One  evening  as  she  was  passing  out  of  the  Porte- 
Saint-Martin  theatre  she  fortunately  met  Lucien  Chardon  de 
Rubempre,  with  whom  she  fell  in  love  at  first  sight.  Their 
love  was  crossed  by  a  thousand  different  things.  The  poet 
and  ex-prostitute  committed  the  mistake  of  being  seen  at  the 
opera;  they  there  had  an  adventure,  in  the  winter  of  1824,  at 
the  annual  ball.  Unmasked  and  insulted,  Esther  Gobseck 
flew  to  the  Rue  de  Langlade,*  where  she  lived  most  wretchedly. 
The  dangerous,  powerful,  and  occult  protector  of  Rubempre, 

*  The  opening  of  the  Avenue  de  I'Opera  caused  the  demolition  of  this 
street. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  223 

Jacques  Collin,  followed  her  home ;  he  gave  her  a  lecture  and 
finally  decided  Esther's  future  existence ;  he  made  her  a 
Catholic  and  had  her  carefully  brought  up,  and  then,  soon 
after  accomplishing  this,  gave  her  to  Lucien,  on  the  Rue  Tait- 
bout.  Guarded  by  Jacqueline  Collin,  Paccard,  and  Prudence 
Servien,  Esther  lived  in  the  suite  of  rooms  lately  occupied  by 
Caroline  Crochard.  She  was  only  allowed  to  take  a  promenade 
at  night.  Nevertheless,  Baron  de  Nucingen  discovered  the 
mysterious  beauty  and  became  crazy  by  love  for  Esther. 
Jacques  Collin  made  the  most  of  the  situation  ;  Esther  ac- 
cepted the  banker  and  by  his  means  enriched  Chardon  de 
Rubempre.  In  1830,  Esther  Gobseck  owned  a  fine  mansion, 
grander  than  that  of  any  other  courtesan.  Rue  Saint-Georges: 
she  there  received  Mme.  du  Val-Noble,  Tullia  and  Florentine 
(two  dancers),  Fanny  Beaupre  and  Florine  (two  actresses). 
Her  new  position  provoked  the  formidable  intervention  of  the 
police :  Louchard,  Contenson,  Peyrade,  and  Corentin.  In 
May,  1830,  incapable  of  filling  Nucingen's  wishes,  to  whom 
she  promised  herself  the  day  following  the  ''execution  of  la 
Torpille,"  she  took  a  Javanese  poison.  She  died  without 
knov/ing  that  she  was  the  heiress  to  the  seven  million  francs 
left  by  her  great-great-uncle,  Jean-Esther  van  Gobseck  [Gob- 
seck, g — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t — A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, J — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^Z]. 

Godain ;  born  in  Burgundy,  1796;  a  neighbor  of  Sou- 
langes,  at  Blangy  and  Ville-aux-Fayes ;  nephew  of  one  of  the 
masons  who  built  Mme.  Soudry's  house ;  a  malignant  field 
laborer,  avaricious  and  poor :  first  he  was  the  lover  and  then 
the  husband  of  Catherine  Tonsard,  whom  he  married  about 
1823  [The  Peasantry,  M']. 

Godain,  Madame  Catherine,  the  eldest  legitimate  daugh- 
ter of  Tonsard,  the  innkeeper  of  the  Grand  I  Vert,  situated 
between  Conches  and  Ville-aux-Fayes.  A  virile  beauty  of 
depraved  instincts,  an  assiduous  attendant  at  the  Tivoli-Soc- 
quard ;  the  devoted  sister  of  Nicolas  Tonsard,  for  whom  she 


224  COMPENDIUM 

tried  to  throw  from  virtue  Genevieve  Niseron ;  courted  by 
Charles,  Montcornet's  valet ;  feared  by  Amaury  Lupin  ;  mar- 
ried Godain,  one  of  her  lovers,  and  obtained  a  dowry  of  one 
thousand  francs  from  Mme.  de  Montcornet  by  an  ingenious 
scheme  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Godard,  Joseph;  born  in  1798,  probably  at  Paris;  to  some 
extent  an  ally  of  the  Baudoyers  through  Mitral ;  puny  and 
catarrhal ;  a  fifer  in  the  National  Guard ;  a  bundle  of  imbe- 
cilities ;  a  chaste  bachelor ;  living  with  his  sister,  an  artificial 
flower-maker,  Rue  Richelieu,  Paris;  about  the  years  1824-25, 
an  employe  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance ;  a  mediocre  sub-chief  in 
Isidore  Baudoyer's  office,  and  one  of  the  victims  of  his  col- 
league Bixiou's  mystifications.  With  Dutocq,  Joseph  Godard 
made  numerous  calls  on  the  Baudoyers  and  their  relations, 
the  Saillards.  He  extolled  Baudoyer's  advancement  in  the 
office ;  he  is  often  met  with  in  their  home,  where  he  seems,  in 
the  evenings,  to  have  played  the  flageolet  [Les  Employes,  CC 
— The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Godard,  Mademoiselle,  sister  of  the  foregoing,  living  on 
the  Rue  Richelieu,  Paris,  where,  in  1824,  she  kept  an  artifi- 
cial-flower store.  Mile.  Godard  gave  employment  to  Zelie 
Lorrain,  who  afterward  became  the  wife  of  an  employe  in  the 
Bureau  of  Finance,  Francois  Minard.  She  received  both 
Minard  and  Dutocq  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Godard,  in  May,  1830,  was  in  the  service  of  the  Marquise 
d'Espard,  104  Rue  Faubourg  Saint-Honore ;  during  the  trial 
of  the  Collin-Rubempre  case  he  went  on  horseback  with  a 
little  note  to  the  minister  of  justice  which  had  been  obtained 
from  the  wife  of  the  judge  of  instruction,  Camusot  [Vau- 
trin's  Last  Avatar,  ;sj]. 

Godard,  Manon,  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie's  servant.  She 
was  arrested  in  1809,  between  Alen^on  and  Mortagne,  as 
being  implicated  in  the  aflair  called  the  *'  Chauffeurs,**  at 
about  the  same  time  as  the  execution  of  Mme.  des  Tours- 
Minieres,  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie's  daughter.     Manon  Godard 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  225 

was  condemned  for  contumacy  to  twenty-two  years'  imprison- 
ment, for  neither  deserting  nor  delivering  Mme.  de  la  Chan- 
terie  into  captivity.  For  a  long  time  after  the  liberation  of 
the  baroness,  under  Louis-Philippe,  Manon  lived  with  her  on 
the  Rue  Chanoinesse,  in  the  house  of  refuge  in  which  Alain, 
Montauran,  Godefroid,  etc.,  also  resided  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T]. 

Godde-Herau,  under  the  Restoration,  a  family  of  bank- 
ers at  Issoudun,  the  members  of  which,  in  1823,  the  evening  of 
the  arrival  of  Agathe  and  Joseph  Bridau,  met  the  Borniches, 
Beussier,  Lousteau-Prangin,  and  Fichet,  at  the  old  Hochons 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Goddet,  an  old  army  surgeon-major  of  the  Third  Regiment 
of  the  line,  about  1823 ;  the  best  doctor  in  Issoudun.  One  of 
his  sons  belonged  to  the  Knights  of  Idlesse,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Maxence  Gilet.  Goddet's  son. made  a  pretense  of 
courting  Mme.  Fichet  in  order,  through  the  mother's  means, 
to  marry  her  daughter,  who  had  the  largest  dowry  in  Issoudun 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  tT\ 

Godefroid,  only  known  by  his  Christian  name,  born 
about  1806,  probably  at  Paris.  The  son  of  a  rich  and 
saving  retailer ;  educated  at  the  Liautard  Institute ;  naturally 
weak,  both  morally  and  physically ;  he  vainly  tried  in  turns 
the  cf>lling  of  a  notary,  an  employe  in  the  bureaus,  literature, 
pleasijre,  journalism,  politics,  and  marriage,  but  vainly  in  each 
case.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1836  he  found  himself  poor 
and  completely  isolated  ;  he  now  wished  to  lead  a  passive  and 
parsimonious  life.  He  left  the  Chaussee  d' Antin  and  installed 
himself  on  the  Rue  Chanoinesse,  where  he  became  one  of 
Mme.  de  la  Chanterie's  boarders,  who  were  known  as  the 
"Brotherhood  of  Consolation."  The  recommendation  of 
the  Mongenods,  bankers,  made  him  a  welcome  inmate.  The 
Abbe  de  Veze,  Montauran,  Lecamus  de  Tresnes,  Alain,  and 
the  baroness,  especially  the  latter,  gradually  moulded  him  ;  he 
was  given  sundry  missions  of  charity  to  attend,  among  others^ 
15 


226  COMPENDIUM 

in  the  Montparnasse  quarter,  that  of  relieving  the  frightful 
poverty  of  the  Bourlac  and  Mergi  families,  about  the  middle 
of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  The  head  of  this  family,  then  an 
imperial  judge,  had  judicially  prosecuted,  1809,  Mesdames  de 
la  Chanterie  and  des  Tours-Minieres.  After  this  generous 
deed  had  been  successfully  accomplished,  the  order  of  the 
Brotherhood  of  Consolation  openly  acknowledged  Godefroid 
as  an  initiate ;  he  declared  himself  happy  in  the  result  ob- 
tained [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Godenars,  Abbe  de,  born  about  1795  ;  one  of  the  vicars- 
general  of  the  archbishopric  of  Besan^on,  between  1830  and 
1840.  Since  1835  he  had  wished  to  become  a  bishop;  at 
that  time  he  is  encountered  in  the  aristocratic  salon  of  the 
Wattevilles,  at  the  moment  when  the  precipitate  flight  of  Albert 
Savarus  took  place,  provoked  by  the  young  heiress  of  that 
family  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Godeschal,  Francois-Claude-Marie,  born  about  1804. 
In  1818  he  was  third  clerk  to  attorney  Maitre  Derville,  Rue 
Vivienne,  Paris,  when  he  saw  the  unfortunate  Chabert  [Colonel 
Chabert,  -i].  In  1820,  a  wretched  orphan,  a  brother  with  a 
devoted  sister,  Mariette  the  dancer,  he  lived  on  the  eighth 
floor  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  Vieille-du-Temple.  Godeschal  had 
already  revealed  his  practical  nature  and  interesting  character, 
egotistical,  but  true  and  right,  and  at  times  capable  of  gener- 
osity [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7].  In  1822  he  became 
the  second  clerk ;  he  then  left  Maitre  Derville  and  went  into  at- 
torney Desroches'  office  as  head  clerk ;  he  there  congratulated 
on  his  conduct  and  work  his  new  auxiliary,  Oscar  Husson,  who 
had  taken  a  liking  to  him  [A  Start  in  Life,  8\.  Godeschal  is 
still  found  to  be  Maitre  Desroches'  head  clerk  six  years  later, 
having  management  of  the  petition  by  which  Mme.  d'Espard 
prayed  for  a  commission  in  lunacy  to  try  her  husband  [The  Com- 
mission in  Lunacy,  c\.  Under  Louis-Philippe  he  became  one 
of  the  attorneys  of  Paris,  and  paid  one-half  of  the  cost  of  his 
position  (1840),  and  intended  to  pay  the  balance  out  of  Celeste 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  227 

Colleville's  dowry,  but  her  hand  was  refused  to  him  in  spite  of 
Cardot's,  the  notary,  recommendation ;  the  Thuilliers  and  Colle- 
villes  discarded  Godeschal  because  of  his  sister,  Marie  Gode- 
schal,  the  dancer,  called  Mariette.  Derville's  and  Desroches' 
old  clerk  had  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  among  his  clientage  ;  he 
assisted  in  the  purchase  of  the  house  near  the  Madeleine 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\  Godeschal  was  in  practice  about 
1845;  among  his  clients  were  the  Camusots  de  Marville 
[Cousin  Pons,  x\ 

Godeschal,  Marie;  born  about  1804.  Nearly  all  her  life 
she  kept  up  the  closest  and  most  tender  relations  of  friendship 
with  her  brother,  Godeschal,  the  attorney.  Without  relatives 
or  fortune,  she  had,  1820,  the  same  domicile  as  her  brother — 
the  eighth  floor  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  Vieille-du-Temple, 
Paris.  Her  fraternal  devotion  made  Marie  a  dancer  by  her 
own  free  will.  At  ten  years  of  age  she  began  to  learn  her 
profession.  The  celebrated  Vestris  taught  and  predicted  a 
brilliant  future  for  her.  Under  the  name  of  Mariette  she  was 
successively  employed  at  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  and  the 
Academic  Royal  de  Musique.  Her  success  with  boulevard 
folk  displeased  the  famous  Begrand.  Very  soon  after,  in 
January,  1821,  her  angelic  beauty,  preserved  by  her  frigid 
manner,  opened  to  her  the  doors  of  the  opera.  Then  she  had 
numbers  of  lovers.  The  aristocratic  and  fashionable  Maufrig- 
neuse  was  her  protector,  and  he  certainly  kept  her  for  a 
number  of  consecutive  years.  Mariette  also  received  Philippe 
Bridau,  and  was  the  involuntary  cause  of  that  officer  com- 
mitting a  theft  in  order  to  struggle  against  Maufrigneuse. 
Four  months  after  this  she  went  to  London,  where  she  ex- 
ploited the  opulent  peers  of  the  House  of  Lords;  returning 
to  Paris,  she  became  first  lady  at  the  Academy  of  Music, 
transported  to  the  Rue  Peletier,  in  1822.  Mariette  counted 
among  her  favored  callers  Florentine  Cabirolle,  and  also 
called  upon  that  ballet-dancer  of  the  Gaite.  It  was  in  her 
house   that   Mariette    took   a  bad   step   with  Oscar  Husson, 


228  COMPENDIUM 

Cardot's  nephew,  1825.  As  for  the  rest,  Marie  never  missed 
a  f§te  :  she  saw  the  brilliant  reappearance  in  public  of  Esther 
(Gobseck),  and  applauded  her,  at  the  Porte-Saint-Martin. 
Until  the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  people  still  cited  her, 
and  Mariette  was  found  among  the  illustrations  of  the  opera 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J — A  Start  in  Life,  s — The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Y — Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Godet,  a  family  at  Issoudun,  under  the  Restoration,  who, 
with  the  rest  of  that  city,  were  so  eager  to  learn  of  the  dispo- 
sition of  Jean -Jacques  Rouget's  succession,  then  in  dispute 
between  Bridau  and  Gilet  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e/]. 

Godet,  under  the  Restoration,  a  robber,  assassin,  and 
accomplice  of  Dannepont  and  Ruffard  in  the  death  of  the 
Crottats  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;sj]. 

Godin,  under  Louis-Philippe,  a  Parisian  bourgeois ;  had  a 
lively  discussion  with  a  friend  of  M.  de  la  Palferine,  who,  by 
reason  of  his  low  and  ignoble  birth,  refused  to  fight  a  duel 
with  him,  on  the  advice  of  Charles-Edouard  Rusticoli  [A 
Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF']. 

Godin,  La,  about  1823,  a  peasant  of  Conches,  to  whom  the 
process-server,  Vermichel,  told  of  the  coming  seizure  of  her 
cow,  with  the  aid  of  his  employer,  Brunet,  the  bailiff,  and  his 
other  colleague,  Fourchon  [The  Peasantry,  If]. 

Godivet,  the  registrar  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  1839.  Appointed 
through  the  efforts  of  Achille  Pigoult,  one  of  the  two  assessors 
in  the  electoral  meeting  preparatory  to  the  general  election, 
organized  by  Simon  Giguet,  and  over  which  Phileas  Beau- 
visage  presided  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>2)]. 

GodoUo,  CoMTESSE  Tarna  de,  probably  a  Hungarian,  a 
police-spy  under  Corentin's  orders.  Her  mission  was  to  pre- 
vent the  marriage  of  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  to  Celeste  Col- 
leville.  In  the  end,  about  1840,  she  was  a  tenant  of  the 
Thuilliers,  Paris,  near  the  Madeleine;  she  frequently  called 
upon  them,  and  seduced  and  dominated  them.  Mnie.  de 
GodQUp  also  took  the  name  of  Mme.  Komorn.     The  intelb- 


COM  Ad  IE  HUMAINE,  229 

gence  and  beauty  of  this  pretended  countess  for  a  moment 
fascinated  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Goguelat,  a  foot-soldier  in  the  first  Empire;  passing  into 
the  Guards  in  1812,  was  decorated  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  on 
the  battle-field  of  Valontina;  under  the  Restoration  he  re- 
turned to  Isere  commune,  of  which  Benassis  was  the  mayor, 
and  became  the  walking  postman.  To  an  old  villager,  in 
1829,  he  recounted  the  history  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  with 
a  familiarity  both  rustic  and  picturesque,  before  an  assembly 
in  which  were  Gondrin,  la  Fousseuse,  Genestas,  and  Benassis 
[The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Goguelu,  Mademoiselle,  in  1799,  a  Breton  girl 
"haunted"  by  the  Chouan  Marie  Lambrequin;  'Mie  mis- 
guided that  girl  of  Goguelu's  and  was  weighed  down  by 
a  mortal  sin  "  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Gohier,  at  Paris,  1824,  jeweler  to  the  King  of  France; 
he  furnished  to  Elisabeth  Baudoyer  the  monstrance  which 
was  needed  to  beautify  the  church  of  Saint-Paul,  and  given 
by  her  in  order  to  advance  Isidore  Baudoyer  in  the  bureau 
[Les  Employes,  cc\ 

Gomez,  captain  of  the  Saint-Ferdinand,  a  Spanish  brig, 
which  came  from  America  to  France  about  1833,  having  on 
board  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont,  who  had  become  wealthy 
again.  Gomez  was  boarded  by  a  Columbian  corsair  whose 
captain,  the  Parisian,  threw  him  into  the  sea  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  g\. 

Gondrand,  Abbe,  under  the  Restoration,  at  Paris,  confessor 
of  the  Duchesse  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  whom  he  directed  in 
her  good  dinners  and  her  little  sins ;  often  piously  installed 
as  the  shepherd  of  the  salon,  when  General  Armand  de 
Montriveau  called  upon  her  [The  Duchess   of  Langeais,  &6]. 

Gondreville,  Malin  was  his  real  name;  more  often 
known  by  the  name  of  Comte  de;  born  in  1763,  without 
doubt  at  Arcis-sur-Aube.  Little  and  fat ;  the  grandson  of  a 
mason  employed  by  the  Marquis  de  Simeuse  to  build  the  castle 


230  COMPENDIUM 

of  Gondreville ;  only  son  of  the  owner  of  the  house  at  Arcis 
in  which  dwelt  his  friend  Grevin,  in  1839;  on  Danton's 
recommendation  he  was  admitted  as  a  procureur  to  the 
Chatelet  at  Paris,  1787;  he  was  Maitre  Bordin's  head  clerk 
in  the  same  city  and  year ;  two  years  later  he  returned  to  the 
country  to  practice  as  a  barrister  {avocai)  at  Troyes ;  he  be- 
came an  obscure  and  insignificant  member  of  the  Convention  ; 
he  was  made  a  friend  of  by  Talleyrand  and  Fouche,  from 
June,  1800,  owing  to  singular  and  opportune  circumstances;, 
he  was  successively  a  member  of  the  tribune,  councilor  of  State, 
count  of  the  Empire — Comte  de  Gondreville — and  finally  a  sen- 
ator. Councilor  of  State  Malin  de  Gondreville  was  employed  on 
the  construction  of  the  Code ;  he  played  a  great  part  in  Paris. 
He  purchased  one  of  the  most  beautiful  mansions  in  the 
faubourg  Saint-Germain,  and  married  the  only  daughter  of 
Sibuelle,  a  rich  contractor  of  little  reputation,  and  whom 
Gondreville  had  appointed  as  co-receiver-general  of  the  Aube 
with  one  of  the  Marions.  His  marriage  took  place  in  the 
time  of  the  Directory  or  the  Consulate.  Three  children  were 
the  result  of  this  union :  Charles  de  Gondreville,  the  Mare- 
chale  de  Carigliano,  and  Mme.  Frangois  Keller.  Then 
Malin  looked  after  his  own  particular  interests  by  drawing 
closer  to  Bonaparte.  Later,  before  the  Emperor  and  the 
prefect  of  police,  Dubois,  Gondreville,  with  prudent  egoism, 
simulated  a  free-hearted  generosity  and  prayed  for  the  erasion 
of  the  names  of  the  Hauteserres  and  Simeuses  from  the  list 
of  emigrants,  who  were  later  falsely  accused  of  his  abduction 
and  sequestration.  In  1809,  at  Paris,  Senator  Malin  gave  a 
grand  festival,  which  he  vainly  expected  the  Emperor  would 
attend  ;  at  the  same  fdte  Mme.  de  Lansac  effected  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  Soulanges'  household.  Louis  XVIIL  created 
Comte  Malin  a  peer  of  France.  Charles  X.  looked  with 
little  favor  on  Malin,  being  more  intimate  with  Talleyrand. 
Under  Louis-Philippe  he  was  again  a  courtier  of  the  King. 
The  Monarchy  of  July  created  the  Comte  de  Gondreville  a 


COMtDIE  HUMAINE.  231 

peer  of  France  anew.  One  evening  in  1833,  at  a  reception 
given  by  the  Princessede  Cadignan,  he  met  the  prime  minister, 
Henri  de  Marsay,  who  was  full  of  ancient  political  history  of 
which  all  present  were  ignorant,  but  which  was  well  known 
by  Malin.  The  legislative  elections  of  1839  gave  occupation 
to  Gondreville ;  he  gave  his  influence  to  his  son-in-law, 
Charles  Keller,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Arcis.  Malin  cared 
but  little  which  of  the  candidates  might  be  elected — Dorlange- 
Sallenauve,  Phileas  Beauvisage,  Trailles,  or  Giguet — after  the 
death  of  Keller  [A  Historical  Mystery,  j(f— A  Start  in  Life,  s 
— The  "Peace  of  the  House,  J — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Djy]. 

Gondreville,  Comtesse  Malin  de,  nee  Sibuelle,  wife  of 
the  foregoing;  a  person  whose  utter  insignificance  was  plainly 
manifest  at  the  grand  festival  given  at  Paris  by  the  count  in 
1809  [The  Peace  of  the  House,  j~\. 

Gondreville,  Charles  de,  son  of  the  two  last-mentioned 
persons ;  a  sub-lieutenant  m  the  Saint-Chamans  Dragoons, 
1818  ;  young  and  wealthy,  he  perished  in  the  Spanish  campaign 
of  1823.  His  death  caused  his  mistress,  Mme.  Colleville, 
much  anguish  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Gondrin,  of  the  department  of  I'lsere,  born  in  1774.  He 
was  drafted  in  the  great  conscription  of  1792  and  incorporated 
in  the  artillery;  as  a  private  soldier  he  took  part  in  the  cam- 
paigns in  Italy  and  Egypt  under  Bonaparte,  returning  from 
the  East  at  the  peace  of  Amiens.  Under  the  Empire  he  was 
in  the  Bridge  Guards  regiment  and  traveled  through  Ger- 
many and  crossed  Russia;  he  was  engaged  in  the  Beresina 
affair  in  the  construction  of  the  bridge  over  which  passed  the 
remnant  of  the  French  army ;  with  his  forty-one  comrades  he 
received  the  encouragements  of  his  chief,  General  Eble,  who 
had  particularly  noticed  him  ;  the  only  survivor  of  the  Bridge 
Guards  to  reenter  Wilna,  during  the  first  Restoration  and 
after  the  death  of  Eble.  Being  neither  able  to  read  nor  write, 
deaf  and  infirm,  Gondrin  was  wretched  and  left  Paris,  where 
he  had  been  inhospitably  received,  and  returned  to  the  Com- 


232  COMPENDIUM 

mune  of  Dauphine,  where  Doctor  Benassis  was  still  engaged 
in  helping  and  supporting  his  people  in  1829  [The  Country 
Doctor,  C\ 

Gondrin,  Abbe,  a  young  priest  in  Paris,  about  the  middle 
of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  Fashionable  and  eloquent  he  was 
successively  vicar  of  Saint- Jacques  du  Haut-Pas  and  of  the 
Madeleine;  he  resided  at  No.  8  Rue  de  la  Madeleine*  and 
frequented  the  Thuilliers  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Gondureau,  one  of  the  names  assumed  by  Bibi-Lupin 
[Father  Goriot,  6;^]. 

Gonore,  La,  widow  of  the  Jew  Mdise,  the  head  of  the 
**  Midday  Rounders"  ;  in  May,  1830,  the  mistress  of  Danne- 
pont,  called  la  Pouraille,  the  robber  and  assassin ;  she  then 
kept  for  Mme.  Nourrisson,  at  Paris,  a  house  of  ill-fame,  on 
the  Rue  Sainte  Barbe.f  Jacques  Collin  there  treated  most 
remarkably  the  "largess  of  thieves"  [Vautrin's  Last  Ava- 
tar, ^\ 

Gordes,  Mademoiselle  de,  at  the  fete  given  in  an  aristo- 
cratic salon  at  Alengon,  about  181 6;  at  this  time  she  still 
lived  with  her  father,  the  old  Marquis  de  Gordes ;  she  re- 
ceived the  Chevalier  de  Valois,  du  Bousquier,  etc.  [The  Old 
Maid,  aa\. 

Gorenflot,  a  mason  at  Vendome,  who  with  his  sweet- 
heart's aid  walled  up  the  entrance  to  the  closet  in  which 
Mme.  Merret's  lover,  Bagos  de  Feredia,  a  Spaniard,  was  in- 
closed [The  Great  Bretgche,  ?]. 

Gorenflot,  possibly  posing  as  Quasimodo  in  ''  Notre 
Dame,"  by  Victor  Hugo.  A  hunchback  and  infirm,  deaf, 
of  Lilliputian  size,  he  lived  in  Paris,  about  1839,  blowing  the 
organ  at  Saint-Louis'  church  and  ringing  the  bells.  Gorenflot 
also  served  as  the  mysterious  financial  agent  in  the  corre- 
spondence between  Jacques  Bricheteau  and  Sallenauve-Dor- 
lange  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDIf]. 

*  Now  the  Rue  Boissy-d*  Anglas. 
f  The  Rue  Portalds  at  this  time. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINM.  233 

Goriot,*  Jean- Joachim,  born  about  1750,  was  first  simply 
a  porter  in  the  Cornmarket,  Paris.  Under  the  first  Revolu- 
tion, although  deprived  of  early  education,  but  having  the 
spirit  of  a  trader,  he  went  into  the  grain  and  vermicelli  trade 
and  did  well.  Economy  and  chance  also  favored  Goriot, 
who  operated  under  the  Terror.  He  passed  for  a  ferocious 
citizen  and  a  good  sort  of  a  patriot.  His  prosperity  enabled 
him  to  contract  a  marriage  of  inclination  with  the  only  daughter 
of  a  wealthy  farmer  of  la  Brie,  who  died  young  and  whom  he 
still  worshiped.  The  vermicelli  dealer  turned  unto  the  chil- 
dren who  were  the  issue  of  this  union  (Anastasie  and  Delphine) 
the  tenderness  of  which  their  mother  had  been  the  recipient  ] 
he  furnished  a  magnificent  establishment  for  them.  Goriot's 
misfortunes  dated  from  their  conjugal  installation  in  the  heart 
of  the  Chaussee-d'Antin.  Aside  from  the  recognition  of  his 
money  sacrifices,  his  sons-in-law,  Restaud  and  Nucingen,  and 
his  daughters  also,  were  displeased  with  the  exterior  appear- 
ance of  the  bourgeois.  So  from  1813  he  lived  retired,  poor 
and  worn  out,  in  Mme.  Vauquer's  {nee  Conflans)  boarding- 
house,  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevi^ve,  Paris.  The  quarrels  of 
Mesdames  Restaud  and  Nucingen  and  their  avaricious  pleadings 
for  money  were  constant  and  in  18 19  came  to  a  crisis.  Nearly 
all  the  guests  of  the  house,  and  the  widow  Vauquer  herself, 
spoke  of  his  ambitious  hopes,  and  all  alike  tormented  and  tried 
to-  annoy  him.  He  was  all  but  ruined.  The  old  vermicelli 
dealer  found  some  agreeable  respite  when  he  concealed,  on 
the  Rue  d'Artois,|  the  adulterous  love  of  Mme.  de  Nucingen 
and  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  his  friend  at  the  Vauquer  boarding- 

*  Two  theatres  in  Paris  and  five  dramatic  authors  have  taken  the  story 
of  Jean-Joachim  Goriot  as  a  basis  of  plays:  March  6,  1835,  at  the 
Vaudeville,  by  Ancelot  and  Paul  Duport;  the  month  following,  in  the 
same  year,  at  the  Varietes,  Theaulon,  Alexis  de  Comberousse,  and  Jaime, 
senior.  Finally  the  Boeuf-Gras,  at  one  of  its  annual  carnivals,  gave  it 
under  the  name  of  "  Goriot." 

f  Under  the  first  Empire,  Rue  Cerutti,  and,  since  the  time  of  Louis- 
Philippe,  the  Rue  Lafiite. 


234  COMPENDIUM 

house.  The  financial  agonies  of  Mme.  de  Restaud,  the  prey 
of  Maxinae  de  Trailles,  ended  Jean-Joachim.  Then  he  gave 
up  his  last  and  most  precious  remainder  of  his  silver  and 
implored  the  aid  of  Jean-Esther  van  Gobseck,  on  the  Rue  des 
Gres;  this  scene  entirely  overcame  Goriot,  it  brought  on  a 
serious  apoplexy.  He  was  conveyed  to  his  house  on  the  Rue 
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  where  young  de  Rastignac  watched 
over  him  and  called  in  Bianchon  to  treat  him,  but  he  died. 
Only  two  men,  Christophe,  Mme.  Vauquer's  servant,  and 
Eugene  de  Rastignac,  accompanied  Goriot's  remains  to  Saint- 
Etienne  church  and  Pere-Lachaise  cemetery;  the  empty 
carriages  of  his  surviving  family  were  sent  to  the  cemetery 
[Father  Goriot,  O]. 

Goritza,  Princesse,  a  charming  Hungarian,  famous  for 
her  beauty,  toward  the  end  of  Louis  XV.  *s  reign,  and  who 
was  when  young  much  attached  to  Chevalier  de  Valois,  who 
came  to  the  point  of  combat  about  the  illustrious  foreigner 
with  M.  de  Lauzun ;  he  never  spoke  of  her  without  deep  emo- 
tion. From  1816  to  1830  the  aristocracy  of  Alen^on  saw  the 
portrait  of  the  princess  which  ornamented  the  gold  box  out 
of  which  the  chevalier  took  his  snuff  [The  Old  Maid,  (i(]C\. 

Gorju,  Madame,  the  wife  of  the  mayor  of  Sancerre,  in 
1836;  the  mother  of  a  daughter  ''whose  figure  threatened  to 
early  become  stout  "  ;  she  at  times  attended  the  soirees  of  the 
*' Muse  of  the  Department"  along  with  her  mother.  One 
evening  in  the  fall  of  1836,  in  the  salon  to  which  people  still 
gave  the  name  of  the  Sapho  of  Saint-Satur,  Mme.  Gorju  heard 
the  ironical  reading  of  fragments  of  "  Olympia,  or  Roman  Re- 
venge," by  Etienne  Lousteau  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Gothard ;  born  in  1788;  lived,  about  1803,  in  the  arron- 
dissement  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  where  his  address  and  courage 
resulted  in  his  becoming  the  little  groom  to  Laurence  de 
Cinq-Cygne.  A  devoted  servant  of  the  countess,  he  was  one 
of  the  actors  acquitted  in  the  criminal  trial  which  ended  in 
the  capital  execution  of  Michu  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 


COMEDIE  HVMAINE.  235 

Gothard  never  left  the  Cinq-Cygne  family.  Thirty-six  years 
after  he  was  the  steward.  With  his  brother-in-law,  Poupard, 
the  Arcis  innkeeper,  Gothard  served  the  electoral  interests  of 
his  masters  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDX>]. 

Gouges,  Adolphe  de,  the  name  assumed  by  Henri  de  Mar- 
say,  in  April,  1815,  when  he  became  Paquita  Valdes'  lover; 
the  pretended  Adolphe  de  Gouges  said  he  resided  at  No.  54 
Rue  de  I'Universite  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

Goujet,  Abbe,  cure  of  Cinq-Cygne,  in  the  Aube,  about 
1792,  discovered,  under  the  Revolution,  by  the  farmers  Beau- 
visage,  who  remained  good  Catholics,  to  baptize  their  son, 
the  Christian  name  given  being  Phileas,  one  of  the  very  rare 
cases  of  a  saint's  name  not  abolished  by  the  new  adminis- 
tration [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)_D].  The  former  abbot  of 
Minimes,  he  was  Hauteserre's  friend;  he  was  also  Adrien's 
and  Robert  d' Hauteserre's  tutor.  Abbe  Goujet  played  boston 
with  their  parents,  1803.  His  prudent  policy  one  time  caused 
him  to  blame  the  intrepid  audacity  of  their  relative.  Mile,  de 
Cinq-Cygne.  Nevertheless,  he  came  out  ahead  of  the  perse- 
cutor of  that  noble  house,  the  police-spy  Corentin  ;  and  he 
attended  Michu,  when  that  victim  of  the  criminal  trial  called 
*Uhe  abduction  of  Gondreville "  placed  his  head  on  the 
block.  Abbe  Goujet  became  bishop  of  Troyes  during  the 
Restoration  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Goujet,  Mademoiselle,  sister  of  the  foregoing,  an  old 
maid,  good,  gay,  plain,  and  parsimonious,  who  lived  with  her 
brother.  Nearly  every  evening,  1803,  at  Cinq-Cygne,  Aube, 
she  made  one  at  boston  with  the  d'Hauteserres  ;  she  was  fright- 
ened when  the  police-spy  Corentin  paid  his  visit  there,  pre- 
vious to  the  criminal  trial  which  terminated  in  the  tragic 
death  of  Michu  [A  Historical  Mystery,  jf\ 

Goulard,  Mayor  of  Cinq-Cygne,  Aube,  in  1803.  Fat, 
big,  and  miserly ;  he  married  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Troyes, 
whose  fortune  augmented  by  his  own  enabled  him  to  purchase 
the  lands  of  the  rich  abbey  of  Val-des-Preux,  adjoining  Cinq- 


S36  COMPENDIUM 

Cygne  commune.  Goulard  resided  at  that  abbey,  which 
was  very  near  the  chateau  of  Cinq-Cygne ;  in  spite  of  his 
revolutionary  attachments  he  was  hand-in-glove  with  his 
neighbors,  the  MM.  d'Hauteserres  and  de  Simeuses,  Royalist 
conspirators  [A.  Historical  Mystery,  ff~\. 

Goulard,  Antonin,  a  child  at  Arcis,  like  Simon  Giguet. 
Born  about  1807,  the  son  of  an  old  huntsman  of  the  Simeuses, 
enriched  by  the  purchase  of  nationalized  lands.  (See  the  pre- 
ceding biography.)  Early  orphaned  of  his  mother,  he  went 
with  his  father  to  live  at  Arcis,  and  abandoned  the  abbey  of 
Valpreux — Val-des-Preux.  He  was  sent  to  the  Lycee  Imperial, 
where  he  had  as  a  companion  Simon  Giguet ;  later  he  is 
found  on  the  right  benches  of  the  Ecole,  at  Paris.  By  the 
favor  of  Gondreville  he  was  decorated  with  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  The  Royalists  of  1830  opened  to  him  an  adminis- 
trative career.  In  1839  Goulard  was  the  sub-prefect  at  Arcis- 
sur-Aube,  during  the  time  of  election  proceedings.  The 
ministerial  delegate,  Maxirae  de  Trailles,  satisfied  the  grudge 
that  Antonin  bore  against  Simon  Giguet :  official  instructions 
caused  this  to  be  brought  about;  one  of  the  aspirants  for  the 
seat  of  deputy  vainly  sought  the  hand  of  Cecile  Beauvisage. 
Goulard  was  a  frequent  visitor  of  the  officials — the  colony* — 
viz.:  Frederic  Marest,  Olivier  Vinet,  Martener,  and  Francois 
Michu  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  T>jy\. 

Gounod  was  a  nephew  of  Vatel's,  one  of  the  Comte  de 
Montcornet's  keepers  at  the  Aigues.  About  1823  he  probably 
became  one  of  the  regular  servants  of  Michaud,  who  was 
hunted  by  Fourchon,  Rigou,  Tonsard,  Bonnebault,  Soudry, 
etc.  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Goupil,  Jean-Sebastien-Marie,  born  in  1802;  a  kind  of 
hunchback  without  the  hump;  the  son  of  a  rich  farmer. 
After  having  dissipated  his  paternal  inheritance  at  Paris,  he 
became  head-clerk  to  Cremiere-Dionis,  the  notary  of  Nemours, 
1829.  On  account  of  Francois  Minoret-Levrault,  he  plagued 
*  A  common  term  in  the  provinces. 


COM&DTE  HUMAINE.  237 

and  tormented,  in  every  possible  manner,  but  under  the  veil 
of  anonymity,  Ursule  Mirouet,  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Minoret. 
He  afterward  repented  and,  thanks  to  his  intelligence,  became 
honorable,  true,  and  completely  transformed  for  the  better. 
Goupil,  when  once  established,  married  Mile.  Massin,  eldest 
daughter  of  Massin-Levrault  junior,  clerk  to  the  justice  of  the 
peace  at  Nemours ;  she  was  ugly  of  person,  but  brought  him 
a  dot  of  eighty  thousand  francs ;  her  children  were  rickety 
and  hydrocephalic.  A  soldier  in  the  "  three  glorious  days," 
Jean-Sebastien-Marie  Goupil  obtained  the  decoration  of  July ; 
he  displayed  the  ribbon  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JOT]. 

Gouraud,  Baron,  a  general;  born  in  1782,  at  Provins, 
most  likely.  He  commanded  the  2d  regiment  of  Hussars 
under  the  Empire,  when  he  was  ennobled.  He  was  not 
appreciated  in  the  Restoration,  and  passed  years  of  poverty  at 
Provins.  He  became  a  politician  in  the  ranks  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, and  sought  the  hand,  and  especially  the  dowry,  of 
Sylvie  Rogron  ;  he  persecuted  the  presumed  heiress  of  that  old 
maid.  Mile.  Pierrette  Lorrain,  1827;  seconded  by  Vinet  the 
barrister,  he  received,  after  July,  1830,  the  fruits  of  his  wily 
Liberalism.  Gouraud,  thanks  to  the  favor  of  Maitre  Vinet, 
an  ambitious  parvenu,  in  spite  of  his  gray  hair,  married  a 
young  woman  of  twenty-five,  Mile.  Matifat,  of  the  famous 
druggists  of  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  Paris,  who  gave  her  fifty 
thousand  crowns  in  her  wedding  corbeille.  Titles,  practice, 
and  profits  flowed  in  upon  him.  He  reentered  the  service, 
became  governor  of  a  department  near  the  capital,  and 
obtained  a  peerage.  His  conduct  under  the  minister  Casi- 
mier-Perier  was  well  rewarded.  More  than  all,  he  received 
the  ribbon  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  after  forcing  the  Saint- 
Merri  barricades;  he  was  delighted  to  "*  rap  the  knuckles' 
of  the  civilians  who  had  bullied  them  for  fifteen  years" 
[Pierrette,  i].  About  1845  ^^  was  a  ** sleeping  partner"  in 
the  theatre  managed  by  Felix  Gaudissart  [Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Gourdon,  the  eldest,  the  husband  of  the  only  daughter  of 


238  COMPENDIUM 

an  old  head-keeper  of  the  waters  and  woods,  Gendrin-Watte- 
bled  ;  was,  in  1823,  a  physician  at  Soulanges  and  attended  the 
Michauds.  At  that  time  he  formed  a  portion  of  the  "  best 
society"  of  Soulanges  presided  over  by  Mme.  Soudry,  who 
looked  upon  him  as  a  scientist  of  the  highest  class  and  could 
not  understand  how  he  could  have  become  the  son-in-law  of 
Gendrin-Wattebled.  He  was  a  parrot  of  Buffon's  and  Cuvier's ; 
simply  a  common  taxidermist  [The  Peasantry,  JS]. 

Gourdon,  the  younger,  brother  of  the  foregoing;  he  wrote 
the  poem  "  La  Bilboqueide,"  which  was  printed  by  Bournier. 
He  married  the  niece  and  only  heiress  of  Abbe  Taupin,  cur6 
of  Soulanges,  Burgundy,  where  he  was,  in  1823,  Sarcus*  clerk  ; 
he  was  richer  than  the  justice  of  the  peace.  Mme.  Soudry 
and  her  society  warmly  welcomed  the  song  of  *'La  Bilbo- 
queide" and  preferred  him  to  Lamartine,  whose  works,  in 
fact,  revealed  a  halting  style  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Goussard,  Laurent,  was  a  member  of  the  Revolutionary 
municipality  of  Arcis-sur-Aube.  A  particular  friend  of  Dan- 
ton's,  he  used  his  influence  in  the  tribune  to  save  the  head  of 
Marie-des-Anges,  the  mother-superior  of  the  Ursulines  of  Arcis 
in  the  vicinity  of  Arcis,  who  in  these  proceedings  was  shown 
to  be  generous  and  helpful ;  he  became  wealthy  by  acquiring 
the  holy  house  and  lands  ''sold  by  the  nation."  Forty  years 
later  the  wily  Liberal  owned  a  number  of  mills  on  the  river- 
front of  the  Aube  and  was  still  the  head  of  the  advanced  Left 
of  the  arrondissement.  The  different  candidates  for  deputy 
in  the  spring  of  1839 — Charles  Keller,  Simon  Giguet,  Phileas 
Beauvisage,  Dorlange-Sallenauve,  and  the  then  official  repre- 
sentative, Maxime  de  Trailles — all  sought  Laurent  Goussard's 
favor;  at  the  meeting  in  April  over  which  Phileas  Beauvisage 
presided  when  Simon  Giguet  was  heard,  he  was  also  flattered 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>jy\. 

Grades  held  in  his  hands  the  acceptances  of  the  dairyman 
Vergniaud,  the  owner  of  a  dairy  at  Paris,  on  the  Rue  du  Petit- 
Banquier  j  thanks  to  the  money  furnished  by  attorney  Derville, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  239 

Grades  was  paid  off-  in  1818  by  Colonel  Chabert,  a  guest  of 
Vergniaud's  [Colonel  Chabert,  %\. 

Graff,  JOHANN,  the  brother  of  a  tailor  established  in  Paris, 
under  Louis-Philippe  ;  he  himself  went  there  after  having  been 
head-waiter  to  Geodeon  Brunner,  the  innkeeper  at  Frankfort ; 
in  the  Rue  du  Mail  he  kept  the  Hotel  du  Rhin,  whence  in 
1835  Frederic  Brunner  and  Wilhelm  Schwab  left  for  Paris  with 
empty  pockets.  The  innkeeper  procured  little  places  for  the 
two  young  men  :  the  first  at  the  Kellers ;  the  second  with  his 
brother,  the  tailor  [Cousin  Pons,  dC\. 

Graff,  Wolfgang,  brother  of  the  innkeeper  and  a  wealthy 
tailor  in  the  centre  of  Paris,  in  whose  house,  in  1838,  Lisbeth 
Fischer  installed  Wenceslas  Steinbock.  On  Johann  Graff's 
recommendation  he  employed  Wilhelm  Schwab,  and,  six  years 
later,  he  entered  his  family  by  marrying  Emilie  Graff;  at  the 
wedding  festivities  were  present  MM.  Berthier,  Frederic 
Brunner,  Schmucke,  and  Sylvain  Pons  [Cousin  Betty,  w — 
Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Grancey,  Abbe  de,  born  in  1764.  He  entered  holy 
orders  on  account  of  despair  in  love ;  became  a  priest  in  1 786 
and  cure  in  1788;  a  distinguished  ecclesiastic,  he  thrice 
refused  to  leave  Besan^on  to  be  consecrated  bishop.  He  was 
there  in  1834,  the  vicar-general  of  the  diocese.  The  abb6 
had  a  fine,  noble  head ;  he  had  a  great  flow  of  incisive  words. 
Grancey  knew  Albert  Savarus  and  was  his  friend  and  protector. 
He  frequented  the  Wattevilles'  salon  and  taught  their  daugh- 
ter moral  principles ;  she,  Rosalie,  was  a  redoubtable  enemy, 
though  in  a  singular  manner,  of  the  barrister.  The  vicar- 
general  also  knew  of  the  trouble  between  Mme.  and  Mile. 
Watteville.  Grancey  died  at  the  end  of  the  winter  of  1836-37 
[Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Grancour,  Abbe  de,  at  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  one 
of  the  vicars-general  of  the  bishop  of  Limoges  and  the  physical 
antithesis  of  the  other  vicar,  the  lean,  grave  Abbe  Dutheil, 
who,  with  prudent  cowardice,  secretly  belonged  to  the  high 


240  COMPENDIUM 

and  independent  liberal  doctrinaires.  Grancourwas  a  regular 
attendant  of  the  Graslin  salon  and  undoubtedly  knew  of  the 
Tascheron  tragedy  [The  Country  Parson,  _^]. 

Grandemain  was,  in  1822,  at  Paris,  a  clerk  in  the  office 
of  Maitre  Desroches,  the  attorney,  in  whose  office  Godeschal, 
Marest,  and  Oscar  Husson  were  also  employed  [A  Start  in 
Life,  s\ 

Grandet,  Fi:lix,  of  Saumur,  born  between  1745  and  1749. 
A  skillful  master  cooper,  who  in  the  early  part  of  the  Republic 
married  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  lumber  merchant,  who  in 
1796  bore  him  a  child,  Eugenie.  With  his  own  and  wife's 
amassed  capital  Felix  Grandet  bought  at  a  bargain  the  finest 
vineyards  in  the  arrondissement  of  Saumur,  beside  an  old 
abbey  and  numerous  lands.  Under  the  Consulate  he  succes- 
sively became  a  member  of  the  administration  of  the  district 
and  mayor  of  Saumur ;  but  the  Empire,  as  a  supposed  Jacobin, 
soon  retired  him  from  the  last  office,  though  he  still  remained 
the  most  important  personage  in  the  town.  Under  the  Res- 
toration, his  despotism  and  extraordinary  avarice  was  the 
source  of  much  trouble  to  his  family.  His  youngest  brother, 
Guillaume,  killed  himself  after  his  bankruptcy  and  charged 
Felix  with  the  liquidation  of  his  affairs,  confiding  to  his  care 
his  son,  Charles,  who  was  unaware  of  the  paternal  disaster. 
Eugenie  loved  her  cousin  and  fought  against  the  parsimony 
of  her  father,  who  turned  to  his  own  advantage  the  discomfiture 
of  his  brother.  The  struggle  between  Eugenie  and  her  father 
troubled  Mme.  Felix  Grandet.  Numerous,  terrible,  and  vio- 
lent phases  happened  during  that  duel.  Felix  Grandet's 
passion  armed  itself  with  cunning  and  a  powerful  will.  Death 
alone  was  able  to  stop  his  domestic  tyranny.  A  paralysis 
carried  him  off  in  1827;  he  was  an  octogenarian  and  a 
seventeen  times  millionaire  [Eugenie  Grandet,  _E7]. 

Grandet,  Madame  Felix,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born 
about  1770,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  lumber  merchant,  M. 
de  la  Gaudiniere ;  she  married  in  the  early  part  of  the  Repub- 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE  241 

lie  and  brought  an  only  daughter,  Eugenie,  into  the  world, 
in  1796.  She  brought  much  increase  of  wealth  to  the  matri- 
monial union  by  means  of  two  or  three  important  legacies 
through  her  mother  and  also  that  of  M.  de  la  Bertelli^re,  her 
maternal  grandfather.  She  was  a  pious  woman,  shrinking 
and  insignificant,  and  bent  under  the  domestic  yoke.  Mme. 
Grandet  never  left  Saumur,  where  she  died,  in  October,  1822, 
of  consumption,  aggravated  by  the  grief  caused  her  by  the 
constant  friction  between  her  daughter  and  husband  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  'E\ 

Grandet,  Victor-Ange-Guillaume,  youngest  brother  of 
Felix  Grandet,  was  in  Paris,  in  the  wine  trade,  and  there 
grew  stout  and  wealthy.  In  1815,  before  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo, Frederic  de  Nucingen  bought  of  him  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  bottles  of  champagne  at  thirty  sous  a  bottle, 
and  sold  it  to  the  allied  troops  at  six  francs  per  bottle,  during 
the  foreign  occupation,  1817-1819  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  Q. 
The  commencement  of  the  Restoration  saw  Guillaume  Grandet 
the  husband  of  the  charming  natural  daughter  of  a  great  lord, 
who  died  while  she  was  yet  young  ;  she  made  him  a  father.  A 
colonel  in  the  National  Guard,  judge  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
merce, he  administered  one  of  the  arrondissements  of  Paris 
and  became  a  deputy.  The  town  of  Saumur  accused  him  of 
wishing  to  become  the  father-in-law  of  a  duchess  of  the  Em- 
pire. Maitre  Roguin's  bankruptcy  was  the  chief  reason  of 
Guillaume's  ruin ;  it  turned  his  brain,  and  he  took  his  life, 
November,  1819.  His  last  wishes  were  that  his  elder  brother 
Felix  should  care  for  the  doubly  orphaned  Charles  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  JEJ]. 

Grandet,  Charles,  the  only  legitimate  child  of  Victor- 
Ange-Guillaume  Grandet,  of  Paris,  and  the  charming  natural 
daughter  of  a  great  lord  ;  the  nephew  of  Felix  Grandet,  Sau- 
mur; born  in  1797.  He  lived  the  worldly  life  of  opulent 
youth,  and  was  intimate  with  a  certain  Annette,  a  married 
woman  of  good  appearance.  The  tragic  death  of  his  father, 
16 


242  COMPENDIUM 

November,  1819,  surprised  him  after  his  arrival  at  Saumur. 
He  believed  he  loved  his  cousin  Eugenie,  to  whom  he  swore 
to  be  faithful.  Charles  Grandet,  following  this,  sailed  to  the 
Indies  under  the  pseudonym  of  Carl  Sepherd,  in  order  to 
mask  his  disloyal  act ;  he  returned  to  France,  1827,  immensely 
rich,  landing  at  Bordeaux  in  June,  1827,  accompanied  by 
Aubrion,  whose  daughter,  Mathilde,  he  married,  leaving 
Eugenie  Grandet,  who  had  disinterestedly  settled  with  his 
father's  creditors  [Eugenie  Grandet,  ^].  Charles  Grandet, 
by  this  marriage,  became  Comte  d'Aubrion  [The  Firm  of 
Nucingen,  f\. 

Grandet,  Eugenie.*     See  Bonfons,  Eugenie  Cruchot  de. 

Grandlieu,  Comtesse  de,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  century  allied  to  the  Herouvilles ;  this  was  prob- 
ably the  original  stock  of  the  Grandlieus,  who  were  famous  in 
France  for  more  than  two  centuries  [The  Hated  Son,  z\. 

Grandlieu,  Due  Ferdinand  de;  born  about  1773  ;  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Comtesse  de  Grandlieu,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  brought  up,  as  a  consequence, 
in  the  old,  noble,  and  good  family  of  the  Duchy  of  Brittany, 
whose  device  was:  Caveo  71011  timeo.  At  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  or  the  early  part  and  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  Ferdinand  de  Grandlieu  was  the  head  of  the 
eldest  branch,  wealthy  and  ducal,  of  the  house  of  Grandlieu. 
Under  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire,  the  high  position  which 
he  preserved  allowed  him  to  bring  Talleyrand  to  favor  the 
d'Hauteserres  and  de  Simeuses,  who  had  been  compromised 
by  their  imagined  abduction  of  Malin  de  Gondreville.  Ferdi- 
nand de  Grandlieu,  by  his  marriage  with  an  Ajuda  of  the 
eldest  branch,  became  allied  to  the  Bragances,  of  Portuguese 
origin ;  they  had  many  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  took  the 
veil  in  1822.     His  other  daughters  were  Clotilde-Frederique, 

*  The  incidents  in  her  life  have  been  taken  as  the  groundwork  of  a  play 
by  Bayard,  presented  at  the  Gymnase-Dramatique  under  the  title  of  "  La 
Fille  de  I'avare,"  or,  "  The  Miser's  Daughter." 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  2d3 

born  in  1802;  Josephine,  the  third;  Sabine,' born  in  1809; 
Marie-AthenaVs,  born  about  1820.  He  was  uncle  by  marriage 
of  Mme.  de  Langeais ;  he  owned  a  mansion  in  the  faubourg 
Saint-Germain,  Paris,  where,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII. , 
the  Princesse  de  Blamont-Chauvry,  the  Vidame  de  Pamiers, 
and  the  Due  de  Navarreins  met  in  a  family  council  to  judge 
the  escapades  of  Antoinette  de  Langeais.  At  least  ten  years 
later,  Grandlieu  was  served  by  his  intimate  friend,  Henri  de 
Chaulieu,  who  sent  for  Corentin  (Saint-Denis),  in  order  to 
put  an  end  to  the  career  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who  had 
compromised  his  daughter  Clotilde-Frederique  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  j(f— The  Thirteen,  JBJ5— A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, eJ— Modeste  Mignon,^ — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z\ 

Grandlieu,  Mademoiselle  de,  under  the  first  Empire, 
married  an  Imperial  chamberlain  ;  he  was  probable  also  pre- 
fect of  the  Orne,  and  he  alone  of  those  of  Alengon  was 
received  by  the  exclusive  members  of  the  aristocracy  that 
were  under  the  head  of  the  Esgrignons  [The  Collection  of 
Antiquities,  aa\. 

Grandlieu,  Duchesse  Ferdinand  de,  of  Portuguese  origin, 
nee  Ajuda  of  the  eldest  branch  of  that  house  which  was  allied 
to  the  Bragances ;  wife  of  the  Due  Ferdinand  de  Grandlieu, 
the  mother  of  numerous  daughters,  the  eldest  of  whom  took 
the  veil  in  1822.  She  was  sedentary,  proud,  religious,*  good, 
and  beautiful ;  during  the  Restoration  she  exercised  a  kind  of 
supremacy,  through  her  salon,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain, 
Paris.  Her  second  and  last  but  one  daughter  caused  her 
much  anxiety.  Against  the  hostility  of  her  surroundings 
she  welcomed  Rubempre,  the  lover  of  her  daughter  Clotilde- 
Frederique,  1829-30.  Then  followed  the  unhappiness  of 
another  married  daughter,  Sabine,  the  Baronne  Calyste  du 
Guenic,  which  occurred  in  1837;  Mme.  de  Grandlieu  recon- 
ciled that  young  household  with  the  aid  of  Abbe  Brossette, 

*  Her  parish  church  was  Sainte-Val^re,  the  chapel  of  which  was  used 
during  the  building  of  Sainte-Clotilde  Church. 


244  COMPENDIUM 

Maxima  de  Trailles,  and  Charles-Edouard  Rusticoli  de  la 
Pal  ferine.  A  religious  scruple  arrested  her  for  the  moment 
in  doing  this.  Some  years  after  the  advent  of  the  new  regime 
she,  the  same  as  had  done  Mesdames  d'Espard,  de  Listomere, 
and  des  Touches,  reopened  the  doors  of  her  salon  [The  Har- 
lot's Progress,  T"— Beatrix,  jP — k  Daughter  of  Eve,  V\ 

Grandlieu,  Mademoiselle  de,  eldest  daughter  of  the 
Due  and  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu,  took  the  veil  in  1822  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J — The  Harlot's  Progress,  'Y\ 

Grandlieu,  Clotilde-Frederique  de,  born  in  1802,  the 
second  daughter  of  the  Due  and  Duchesse  Ferdinand  de 
Grandlieu ;  long  and  thin,  and  the  living  caricature  of  her 
mother.  She  found  no  maternal  opposition  when  she  loved 
and  would  have  married,  in  the  spring  of  1830,  the  ambitious 
Lucien  de  Rubempre.  She  is  seen,  for  the  last  time,  on  the 
way  to  Italy,  in  the  forest  of  Fontainebleau,  near  Bouron, 
under  painful  circumstances — the  young  man  being  arrested 
before  her  eyes.  Madeleine  de  Lenoncourt  accompanied 
Mile,  de  Grandlieu  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z]. 

Grandlieu,  Josephine  de.  See  Ajuda-Pinto,  Marquise 
Miguel  d'. 

Grandlieu,  Sabine  de.     See  Guenic,  Baronne  Calyste  du. 

Grandlieu,  Marie-Athe^nai's  de.  See  Grandlieu,  Vi- 
comtesse  Juste  de. 

Grandlieu,  Vicomtesse  de,  sister  of  Comte  de  Born,  more 
directly  than  the  duke,  a  descendant  of  the  Comtesse  de  Grand- 
lieu of  the  seventeenth  century ;  the  head  of  the  family  since 
1813,  the  time  of  the  death  of  her  husband,  of  the  young  house 
of  the  Grandlieus,  of  which  **  Great  deeds,  in  great  needs," 
was  the  motto.  The  mother  of  Camille  and  Juste  de  Grand- 
lieu ;  mother-in-law  of  Ernest  de  Restaud,  under  Louis 
XVHI.  She  one  time  lived  on  the  royal  bounty,  but  after- 
ward had  a  great  portion  of  her  estates  restored,  through  the 
aid  of  Maitre  Derville,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Restora- 
tion.    Vicomtesse  de  Grandlieu  always  recognized  the  attor- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE,  245 

ney,  he  was  familiar  with  her ;  one  evening,  in  the  winter  of 
1830,  he  recounted  the  secrets  of  the  Restaud  household,  at 
the  time  when  Ernest  Restaud,  son  of  the  Comtesse  Anastasie, 
sought  Camille,  and  whom  he  afterward  married  [The  Har- 
lot's Progress,  T^— Colonel  Chabert,  i — Gobseck,  g\. 

Grandlieu,  Camille  de.  See  Restaud,  Comtesse  Ernest 
de. 

Grandlieu,  Vicomte  Juste  de,  son  of  Vicomtesse  de 
Grandlieu,  brother  of  Comtesse  Ernest  de  Restaud,  also  the 
cousin  and  afterward  husband  of  Marie-Athenais  de  Grand- 
lieu; by  this  alliance  they  united  the  fortunes  of  the  two 
houses  of  the  Grandlieus  and  obtained  the  ducal  title  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— Gobseck,  g\ 

Grandlieu,  Vicomtesse  Juste  de,  born  about  1820 
(Marie-Athenais  de  Grandlieu),  married  to  her  cousin,  Vicomte 
Juste  de  Grandlieu.  In  the  first  years  of  the  government  of 
July  she  received,  in  Paris,  a  young  bride  like  unto  herself, 
Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  then  coquetting  with  Raoul  Nathan 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z — Gobseck,  g — A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  F]. 

Granet,  in  181 8,  deputy-mayor  of  the  eleventh  arrondis- 
sement  of  Paris,  was,  with  the  mayor,  Athanase  Flamet  de  la 
Billardiere,  and  his  very  ugly  wife,  invited  to  the  famous  ball 
given  by  his  municipal  colleague,  Cesar  Birotteau,  Sunday, 
December  17,  of  the  same  year  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Granet,  an  influential  man  at  Besan^on,  under  Louis- 
Philippe.  Knowing  of  a  service  rendered  by  Albert  Savarus, 
he  proposed  as  a  candidate  for  deputy  that  victim  of  Rosalie 
de  Watteville  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Granson,  Madame,  the  poor  widow  of  a  lieutenant-colonel 
of  artillery,  killed  at  Jena,  and  who  had  one  son,  Athanase. 
From  1816  she  had  resided  at  No.  8  Rue  du  Bercail,*  Alen- 
9on,  where  the  benevolence  of  a  distant  relative,  Mme.  du 

*  This  street  has  always  borne  this  name ;  it  is  situated  opposite  the 
church  of  Notre-Dame  and  is  an  extension  of  the  Rue  du  Cygne. 


246  COMPENDIUM 

Bousquier,  confided  to  her  the  treasury  of  a  local  **  maternal 
society,"  inaugurated  to  put  a  stop  to  infanticide,  and  which 
brought  her  into  intimate  relations  with  the  woman  who  be- 
came Mme.  Theodore  Gaillard  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\ 

Granson,  Athanase,  son  of  the  preceding,  born  in  1793; 
a  petty  employe  in  tlie  mayor's  office  at  Alengon  in  the  civil 
department ;  a  kind  of  poet,  a  Liberal,  but  kept  back  from  his 
legitimate  ambition ;  in  his  poverty  he  was  full  of  grandiose 
conceptions.  From  before  1816  he  had  loved  with  the  full 
force  of  his  passion,  in  despite  of  his  senses  and  advantages, 
Mme.  du  Bousquier,  then  Mile.  Cormon,  and  had  loved  her 
for  more  than  seventeen  years.  In  18 16,  as  soon  as  her  mar- 
riage was  heard  of  being  about  to  take  place,  he  committed 
suicide  by  drowning  in  the  Sarthe.  He  was  regretted  by  only 
his  mother  and  Suzanne  du  Val-Noble  [The  Old  Maid,  a(l\, 
who  more  than  eight  years  later  said  of  him  :  "  The  Athanase 
Gransons  who  go  to  death  are  extinguished  like  seed  that  falls 
on  a  bare  rock  "  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Granville,  Comte  de,  had  a  defective  civil  status;  the 
orthography  of  the  name  is  frequently  varied  by  the  adding  of 
the  letter  d  between  the  n  and  v.  In  1805,  then  of  age,  he 
lived  at  Bayeux,  where  perhaps  he  had  been  born ;  his  father 
was  a  former  president  of  the  Norman  parlement.  At  Bayeux 
the  comte  married  his  son  to  the  rich  Angelique  Bontems  [A 
Second  Home,  ;§;]. 

Granville,  Vicomte  de,  son  of  Comte  de  Granville  and 
comte  on  the  death  of  his  father,  born  about  1779,  and  a 
judge  by  family  tradition.  Favored  by  Cambaceres,  he  passed 
every  administrative  and  judicial  grade.  He  studied  under 
the  tuition  of  Maitre  Bordin ;  he  plead  Michu's  cause  in  the 
historical  mystery  connected  with  the  abduction  of  Senator 
Malin,  and  knew  officially  and  of  his  own  knowledge  the  end 
thereof;  shortly  after  his  marriage  to  a  young  woman  of 
Bayeux,  who  was  the  wealthy  heiress  of  one  who  became  rich 
through  acquiring  nationalized  lands.    Paris  was  nearly  always 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  247 

the  scene  of  the  brilliant  career  of  Maitre  Granville,  who, 
under  the  Empire,  left  the  Quai  Augustins,  where  he  then 
lived,  to  take  possession  of  a  mansion  in  the  Marais,  between 
the  Rues  Vieille-du-Temple  and  Neuve-Saint-Fran^ois.*  He 
successively  became  attorney-general  in  the  court  of  the  Seine 
and  president  of  one  of  the  chambers  of  the  court.  During 
this  time  Granville's  life  was  crossed  by  the  following  domestic 
drama :  Wounded  in  his  large  and  open  ideas  by  the  bigotry 
of  Mme.  de  Granville  he  sought  outside  the  joys  of  home, 
although  he  had  already  four  children  by  his  marriage.  He 
met  Caroline  Crochard,  of  the  Rue  du  Tourniquet-Saint- 
Jean  ;  he  installed  her  on  the  Rue  Taitbout,  and  there  found 
the  comfort  and  simple  delights  which  he  had  vainly  hoped  for 
in  his  legitimate  household.  Granville  took  the  pseudonym 
of  Roger  during  this  time.  One  daughter  and  one  son, 
Eugenie  and  Charles,  were  the  result  of  this  adulterous  union, 
which  was  broken  by  the  desertion  of  Mile.  Crochard. 
Previous  to  the  death  of  Mme.  Crochard,  Caroline's  mother, 
Granville  had  been  careful  to  save  appearances  before  the 
Comtesse  Angelique ;  so  she  accompanied  him  to  the  cam- 
paign in  Seine-et-Oise  when  he  went  to  the  succor  of  MM. 
d'Albon  and  Sucy.  The  remainder  of  Granville's  life,  de- 
serted by  wife  and  mistress,  was  solitary  and  only  had  the 
friendship  of  Octave  de  Bauvan  and  Serizy.  His  work  and 
honor  afforded  him  consolation  in  part.  When  he  was  req- 
uisitioned by  the  attorney-general  to  rehabilitate  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  he  was  a  tenant  at  397  Rue  Saint-Honore,  in  which  the 
famous  ball  had  been  held,  at  which  he  and  Angelique  had 
been  guests  some  three  years  previously.  Procureur-general 
of  the  Court  of  Cassation,  Granville  secretly  protected  Lucien 
de  Rubempre  in  the  famous  criminal  process  against  that  poet 
and  drew  to  himself  the  affection  and  intimacy,  both  equally 
powerful,  of  Jacques  Collin  and  Amelie  Camusot;  a  peer  of 

*  Rue   Neuve-Saint-Frangois  more  than  twenty  years  ago  became  the 
Rue  Debelleyme. 


248  COMPENDIUM 

France  of  the  new  regime,  the  Revolution  of  July,  he  then 
dwelt  in  a  small  mansion  on  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare,  where  he 
lived  since  his  return  from  Italy.  At  this  epoch  he  was  one 
of  Dr.  Bianchon's  clients  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — A 
Second  Home,  z — Farewell,  e — Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The 
Harlot's  Progress,  T^  Z — A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F — Cousin 
Pons,  x]. 

Granville,  Comtesse  Angelique  de,  wife  of  the  pre- 
ceding, and  daughter  of  the  farmer  Bontems,  a  kind  of 
Jacobin,  who  became  wealthy  by  the  Revolution,  through 
the  purchase  and  sale  of  the  lands  of  emigrants.  She  was  born 
at  Bayeux,  and  was  educated  by  her  mother  into  religious 
bigotry.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Empire  she  married  the 
son  of  one  of  the  neighbors  of  the  family,  then  the  Vicomte, 
and  afterward  Comte  de  Granville,  and,  through  the  influence 
of  Abbe  Fontanon,  she  preserved  in  Paris  the  style  and  man- 
ners of  the  extremely  devout.  Angelique  de  Granville  pro- 
voked the  infidelity  of  her  husband,  who  simply  abandoned 
her,  she  taking  the  charge  of  their  two  daughters,  while  he 
cared  for  their  two  sons.  She  completely  separated  the 
daughters  from  their  father,  when  she  discovered  that  she 
had  a  rival,  Mile,  de  Bellefeuille  (Caroline  Crochard),  and 
ended  by  returning  to  Bayeux,  where  she  constantly  practiced 
the  greatest  austerities ;  she  had  been  scandalized  one  time  by 
hearing  of  the  love  of  Montriveau  and  Mrae.  de  Langeais. 
She  died  in  1822  [A  Second  Home,  ^ — The  Duchesse  of 
Langeais,  hb — A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Granville,  Vicomte  de,  eldest  son  of  the  two  preceding. 
He  was  brought  up  by  his  father.  He  was,  in  1828,  a  substi- 
tute judge  at  Limoges,  where  he  became  attorney-general  and 
a  friend  of  Veronique  Graslin,  of  whom  he  knew  of  her  secret 
disgrace  by  his  acts  against  the  assassin,  J.  F.  Tascheron. 
Vicomte  de  Granville  had  a  similar  career  to  that  of  the 
count.  In  1833  he  was  appointed  first  president  at  Orleans, 
and  in  1844  attorney-general.     Soon  after,  in  the  same  town 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  249 

of  Limoges,  he  was  astonished  at  a  spectacle  which  deeply 
moved  him :  the  public  confession  of  Veronique  Graslin. 
Vicomte  de  Granville  was  the  unconscious  executioner  of  the 
lady  of  the  manor  of  Montegnac  [A  Second  Home,  » — A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  F— The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Granville,  Baron  Eugene  de,  younger  brother  of  the 
preceding;  public  prosecutor  in  Paris,  May,  1830,  and  still 
exercising  the  same  functions  three  years  later,  when  he  in- 
formed his  father,  Comte  de  Granville,  of  the  arrest  of  a  thief 
named  Charles  Crochard,  who  was  his  natural  brother  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Y — A  Second  Home,  z\. 

Granville,  Marie-Angelique  de.  See  Vandenesse,  Com- 
tesse  Felix  de. 

Granville,  Marie-Eugenie  de.  See  Tillet,  Madame  Fer- 
dinand du. 

Graslin,  Pierre;  born  in  1775;  ^"  Auvergnat,  the  com- 
patriot and  friend  of  Sauviat,  whose  daughter,  Veronique,  he 
married  in  1822.  He  commenced  as  a  simple  clerk  in  the 
great  banking  house  of  Grossetgte  &  Perret,  in  the  same  town. 
A  business  man,  capable,  and  an  earnest  worker,  he  succeeded 
his  employers.  Pierre  Graslin's  fortune  was  augmented  by 
following  up  a  series  of  lucky  speculations  on  the  Bourse, 
made  with  Brezac ;  this  allowed  of  him  acquiring  one  of  the 
finest  mansions  of  the  chief  place  in  the  Haute-Vienne.  Pierre 
Graslin  never  possessed  his  wife's  heart.  His  ungraceful  phys- 
ical appearance,  the  result  of  neglect  and  laborious  miser- 
liness, was  complicated  with  a  domestic  despotism  which 
speedily  revealed  themselves.  He  was  merely  the  legal  father 
of  a  son  named  Francis,  but  was  ignorant  of  this ;  for  a  jury 
of  the  Court  of  Assize,  drawn  to  decide  that  J.  F.  Tascheron 
was  the  real  father  of  the  child,  brought  in  the  acquittal  of  the 
accused.  Two  years  after  the  birth  of  that  bastard,  in  April, 
1833,  Pierre  Graslin  died  of  exhaustion  and  mortification: 
the  Revolution  of  July  suddenly  startled  him,  and  placed  his 
pecuniary  interests   at  stake.     Graslin  had  made  an  actual 


250  COMPENDIUM 

purchase  of  Montegnac  from  the  Navarreins  [The  Country 
Parson,  F\ 

Graslin,  Madame  Pierre,  nee  Veronique  Sauviat,  wife 
of  the  foregoing,  May,  1802,  at  Limoges;  she  was  beautiful 
in  spite  of  a  slight  trace  of  smallpox ;  in  infancy  gay,  full  of 
simple  fun,  and  an  only  child.  At  twenty  she  married  Pierre 
Graslin.  Soon  after  her  marriage  her  innocent,  fresh  nature, 
romantic  and  intellectual,  suffered  secretly  by  the  tyranny  of 
him  whose  name  she  had  taken.  Veronique  was  not  stirred 
by  the  gallants  who  frequented  her  salon,  although  much 
cared  for  by  one  of  them,  Vicomte  de  Granville.  She  was, 
and  lived,  the  secret  mistress  of  J.  F.  Tascheron,  a  worker  in 
a  porcelain  factory ;  she  had  committed  herself  with  him  when 
she  found  out  the  crime  done  by  her  lover.  Mme.  Graslin 
now  endured  frightful  tortures ;  she  was  brought  to  bed  of  the 
child  of  the  guillotined  at  the  precise  moment  that  its  father 
was  executed;  she  condemned  herself  to  frightful  austerities 
and  the  most  implacable  mortifications  of  her  flesh.  After 
receiving  the  liberty  of  widowhood  she  left  Limoges  for  Mon- 
tegnac, where  she  gave  an  illustration  of  practical  charity  by 
great  creations  and  the  founding  of  new  works.  Mme.  Gras- 
lin had  successively  as  collaborators :  F.  Grossetete,  Bonnet, 
Grancour,  Dutheil,  Gregoire  Gerard,  M.  Champion,  Rou- 
baud,  Clousier,  Aline,  Ruffin,  Colorat,  Mme.  Sauviat,  and 
Farrabesche.  The  return  of  her  lover's  sister  proved  her  last 
stroke.  She  managed  to  compel  herself  to  prepare  for  the 
marriage  of  Denise  Tascheron  to  Gregoire  Gerard,  to  whom 
she  confided  her  son,  and  died  during  the  summer  of  1844, 
after  having  made  a  public  confession  in  the  presence  of 
Bianchon,  Granville,  Duthiel,  Mnie.  Sauviat,  and  Bonnet, 
the  latter  of  whom  knew  of  this  and  attended  her  [The  Coun- 
try Parson,  F\ 

Graslin,  Francis,  born  at  Limoges,  in  August,  1829. 
The  only  child  of  Veronique  Graslin,  the  legitimate  son  of 
Pierre  Graslin,  but  the  natural  offspring  of  J.  F.  Tascheron  ; 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  251 

he  lost  his  legal  father  two  years  after  he  came  into  the  world, 
and  his  mother  thirteen  years  later.  His  tutor,  M.  Ruffin, 
his  maternal  grandmother,  Mme.  Sauviat,  as  well  as  the  Gre- 
goire  Gerards,  formed  his  circle  of  acquaintance  during  his 
adolescence,  which  was  passed  at  Mont^gnac  [The  Country 
Parson,  F\ 

Grasset,  the  commercial  police  officer  who  succeeded 
Louchard.  On  the  suit  of  Lisbeth  Fischer  and  by  the  advice 
of  Rivet,  he  arrested  W.  Steinbock  in  1838,  at  Paris,  and 
took  him  to  Clichy  prison*  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Grassins,  Des,  an  old  quartermaster  of  the  Guard,  griev- 
ously wounded  at  Austerlitz  ;  a  pensioner  and  decorated.  He 
became,  under  Louis  XVIH.,  the  richest  banker  in  Saumur, 
which  he  left  to  go  to  Paris,  where  he  arranged  the  unfor- 
tunate business  of  the  suicide  Guillaume  Grandet ;  and  where 
he  was  at  length  elected  deputy.  Although  the  father  of  a 
family  he  loved  Florine  (Mme.  Raoul  Nathan),  to  the  detri- 
ment of  his  family,  a  pretty  actress  at  the  Madame  theatre f 
[Eugenie  Grandet,  JEJ]. 

Grassins,  Madame  des,  born  about  1780,  wife  of  the 
foregoing,  whom  she  twice  made  a  father ;  she  passed  nearly 
her  whole  life  at  Saumur.  Her  husband's  position  and  some 
physical  advantages  she  had  well  preserved  allowed  her  to 
shine  with  a  certain  lustre  in  society.  With  the  Cruchots  she 
frequented  the  Felix  Grandets,  and  was  like  one  of  the  family 
at  President  de  Bonfons'  house;  she  dreamed  of  Eugenie 
Grandet  as  her  son  Adolphe's  wife.  The  Parisian  dissipa- 
tion of  her  husband  and  the  Cruchots'  conspiracy  effectually 
squelched  Mme.  des  Grassins'  plans  ;  this  so  vexed  her  that 
she  treated  her  daughter  cruelly.  Nevertheless  she  had  a 
separate  fortune  and   was  happy  in   her  position  ;  alone  she 

*This  famous  old  house  of  detention — or  debtors'  prison — was  still 
in  existence  twenty  years  afterward ;  the  Rue  Nouvelle  now  occupies  its 
former  site. 

f  Renamed  the  Gymnase-Dramatique,  July  29,  1830. 


252  COMPENDIUM 

continued  the  banking  business  at  Saumur  [Eugenie  Gran- 
det,  JE7]. 

Grassins,  Adolphe  des,  born  in  1797,  son  of  M.  and 
Mme.  des  Grassins ;  he  passed  much  of  his  time  at  Paris,  and 
while  there  frequented  the  Nucingens,  at  whose  house  he  met 
Charles  Grandet.  He  returned  to  Saumur  in  1819  and  vainly 
courted  the  rich  Eugenie  Grandet.  Adolphe  des  Grassins 
afterward  took  the  road  to  Paris  and  rejoined  his  father,  imi- 
tating him  in  all  his  follies  [Eugdnie  Grandet,  'E\ 

Grassou,  Pierre,  born  at  Fougdres,  Brittany,  1795;  the 
son  of  a  Vendean  peasant  and  fighting  Royalist.  Going  to 
Paris  while  still  young,  he  was  at  first  clerk  to  a  color  mer- 
chant, a  distant  relative  of  his  from  Mayenne.  He  mistakenly 
took  up  a  painter's  vocation.  His  Breton  obstinacy  made 
him  successively  a  frequenter  of  the  ateliers  of  Servin, 
Schinner,  and  Sommervieux.  He  afterward  studied,  though 
without  result,  the  works  of  Granet  and  Drolling;*  he  then 
completed  his  artistic  education  at  Duval-Lecamus'  study. 
Pierre  Grassou  did  not  in  the  least  profit  by  the  lessons  of 
these  masters,  and  his  intimacy  with  Leon  de  Lora  and  Joseph 
Bridau  was  equally  of  none  effect  from  an  artistic  point.  He 
knew  how  to  admire  and  comprehend,  but  he  lacked  the 
faculty  to  create  and  the  science  of  execution.  Thus  Grassou 
was  most  often  called  Fougeres  by  his  comrades,  but  by  them 
he  gained  admission  to  the  Salon  of  1829,  with  his  "Toilette 
d'un  Chouan  condamn^  a  mort,"  a  picture  of  the  greatest 
mediocrity,  a  plain  imitation  of  G6rard  Dow.  This  work 
brought  him,  through  Charles  X.,  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  At  length  his  canvases  brought  in  money.  Elie 
Magus  gave  him  orders  for  a  subject  in  the  Flemish  style, 
which  he  sold  to  Vervelle  as  a  Dow  or  a  Tenier.  Grassou 
then  lived  at  No.  2  Rue  de  Navarin ;  he  became  the  son-in- 
law  of  the  same  Vervelle.  In  fact,  the  painter  was  a  client  of 
Maitre  Cardot,  the  notary,  and  married  Virginie  Vervelle  in 
*  Perhaps  also  those  of  Decamps. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  253 

the  year  1832.  She  was  the  heiress  of  a  wholesale  butcher, 
who  gave  her  a  dowry  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs,  beside 
a  house  in  the  city  and  another  one  in  the  country.  His 
stubborn  mediocrity  opened  the  doors  of  the  Academy  to 
Grassou ;  he  was  promoted  an  officer  in  the  Legion  of  Honor 
in  1839,  and  then  became  major  in  the  National  Guard,  after 
the  trouble  of  May  12th.  Worshiped  by  the  bourgeois,  Gras- 
sou was  their  recognized  artist.  He  delineated  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Crevel  and  Thuillier  families,  beside  the  director 
of  the  theatre  who  preceded  Gaudissart ;  and  so  many  other 
crdufes  (indifferent  paintings),  frightful  or  ridiculous,  that 
they  were  heard  of  even  in  the  humble  home  of  the  Topinards 
[Pierre  Grassou,  r — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7— Cousin 
Betty,  w — The  Middle  Classes,  ee — Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Grassou,  Madame  Pierre,  7iee  Virginie  Vervelle  ;  rosy 
and  plain ;  the  only  heiress  of  the  wealthy  wholesale  butcher 
who  resided  on  the  Rue  Boucherat,*  and  wife  of  the  preced- 
ing, whom  she  married  at  Paris  in  1832.  She  became  known 
to  him  the  same  year,  when  he  painted  her  portrait  before  his 
marriage,  and  did  it  so  vilely  that  during  the  sitting  it  was 
powerfully  retouched  by  Joseph  Bridau  [Pierre  Grassou,  7*]. 

Gravelot  Brothers,  lumber  merchants,  Paris,  who 
bought,  in  1823,  the  wood  from  the  Aigues,  Comte  de 
Montcornet's  estate  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Gravier,  general  paymaster  of  the  army  under  the  first 
Empire;  afterward  mixed  up  with  certain  generals  of  the  staff 
in  some  great  Spanish  interests.  On  the  return  of  the  Bour- 
bons, he  bought  outright  for  twenty  thousand  francs,  from  de 
la  Baudraye,  the  position  as  collector  of  taxes  at  Sancerre, 
which  he  still  occupied  about  1836.  Like  the  Abb6  Duret ; 
Chargebceuf,  the  sub-prefect ;  and  Clagny,  the  public  prose- 
cutor, he  frequented  Mme.  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye's  salons. 

*  The  Rue  Boucherat  does  not  exist  under  this  name ;  it  was  a  portion 
of  the  Rue  Turenne — at  another  time  the  Rue  Saint-Louis — which  ran 
from  the  Rue  Vieille-du-Temple  to  Rue  Chariot. 


254  COMPENDIUM 

He  was  a  small,  squat,  stout  man.  In  spite  of  what  he  heard 
at  the  court  of  her  multiple  relations  with  others,  the  old 
bachelor  paid  his  court  to  the  baroness  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, €C\ 

Gravier,  of  Grenoble,  married,  and  the  father  of  a  family; 
father-in-law  of  a  notary ;  head  of  a  division  in  the  prefecture 
of  risere  in  1829.  He  knew  Genestas  and  recommended  to 
him  the  aid  of  Dr.  Benassis,  mayor  of  the  commune  of  which 
he  was  the  benefactor,  for  Adrien  Genestas-Renard  [The 
Country  Doctor,  O]- 

Grenier,  called  Fleur-de-Gen6t ;  a  deserter  from  the  69th 
demi-brigade ;  a  Chauffeur,  executed  in  1809  for  complicity 
in  that  affair  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Grenouville,  about  1840,  was  the  proprietor  of  a  large 
and  magnificent  novelty  warehouse  and  store  on  the  Boule- 
vard des  Italiens,  Paris ;  a  customer  of  the  Bijous,  em- 
broiderers, also  of  Paris ;  he  was  at  that  time  the  lover  of 
Mile.  Olympe  Bijou,  former  mistress  of  Baron  Hulot  and 
of  Idamore  Chard  in;  he  married  her  and  kept  her  parents 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Grenouville,  Madame,  nee  Olympe  Bijou,  wife  of  the  pre- 
ceding, about  1824.  In  the  middle  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign 
she  lived  near  the  Courtille,  Rue  Saint-Maur-du-Temple, 
Paris;  she  was  a  pretty  but  poor  working-girl,  an  embroiderer, 
surrounded  by  a  wretched  and  numerous  family,  when  Josepha 
Mirah  procured  her  for  Baron  Hulot,  together  with  a  trade 
store.  Having  deserted  Hulot  for  Idamore  Chardin,  who  in 
turn  abandoned  her,  Olympe  was  married  by  Grenouville  and 
became  a  noted  storekeeper  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Grenville,  Arthur  Ormond,  Lord,  a  wealthy  English- 
man ;  he  was  convalescent  at  Montpellier  of  a  lung  complaint 
when  the  rupture  of  the  peace  of  Amiens  happened  and  he 
was  confined  in  the  town  of  Tours.  About  1814  he  was 
smitten  by  the  Marquise  Victor  d'Aiglemont ;  he  became  her 
improvised  medical  attendant,   and  her  malady  succumbed 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  255 

under  his  care.  Lord  Grenville  afterward  called  upon  Mme. 
d'Aiglemont  in  Paris,  and,  in  order  to  save  her  honor,  gave 
up  his  life,  through  injuring  his  hands  and  fingers  between 
the  door  and  jamb  of  a  closet,  1823  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  S\ 

Grevin,  of  Arcis,  Aube,  made  the  same  start  in  life,  and 
at  the  same  time,  as  his  compatriot  and  intimate  friend,  Malin 
de  Gondreville.  In  1787  he  was  Maitre  Bordin's  second 
clerk,  returning  to  the  country  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 
He  was  successively  protected  by  Danton,  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, and  Malin.  Thanks  to  this  he  became  an  oracle  of 
the  Liberal  party ;  he  married  Mme.  Varlet,  the  only  daugh- 
ter of  a  rich  doctor  of  that  town  ;  he  bought  a  notarial  prac- 
tice and  became  wealthy.  A  well-advised  man,  Grevin  often 
advised  Gondreville,  who  was  the  victim  of  a  fictitious  and 
mysterious  sequestration,  1803,  and  of  unknown  origin  for 
many  years  after.  By  his  union  with  Mile.  Varlet,  who  died 
while  quite  young,  he  had  one  daughter — Mme.  Phileas  Beau- 
visage.  During  his  old  age  he  was  principally  engaged  in 
preparing  a  brilliant  future  for  their  children,  as  he  told  in 
the  electoral  campaign  of  May,  1839.  He  had  purchased  the 
superb  Hotel  Beauseant  at  Paris,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Ger- 
main [A  Start  in  Life,  s — A  Historical  Mystery,  ^jf— The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  I}J}\ 

Grevin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding,  nee  Varlet, 
daughter  of  the  leading  physician  of  Arcis-sur-Aube ;  the 
sister  of  another  Varlet,  a  doctor  in  the  same  locality ;  the 
mother  of  Mme,  Severine  Phileas  Beauvisage.  She  was  with 
Mme.  Marion,  in  Arcis  arrondissement,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  more  or  less  mixed  up  in  the  compli- 
cations of  the  abduction  of  Malin  de  Gondreville.  She  died 
young  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Grevin,  a  corsair,  who  was  of  service  to  Admiral  de  Simeuse 
in  the  Indies;  in  1816  he  lived,  paralytic  and  deaf,  with  his 
granddaughter,  Mme.  Lardot,  a  laundress,  of  Alen9on ;  she 


256  COMPENDIUM 

employed  Cesarine  and  Suzanne — who  became  Mme.  Theodore 
Gaillard — and  had  among  her  customers  the  Chevalier  de 
Valois  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Gribeaucourt,  Mademoiselle  de,  an  old  maid  of  Sau- 
mur,  under  the  Restoration;  a  friend  of  the  Cruchots  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  JE7]. 

Griffith,  Miss,  born  in  1787;  a  Scotchwoman,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  poor  minister ;  was  governess  to  Armande-Marie- 
Louise  de  Chaulieu,  to  whom  she  gave  her  love,  thanks  to 
her  benevolence  and  intelligence;  under  the  Restoration 
[Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Grignault,  Sophie.     See  Nathan,  Madame  Raoul. 

Grimbert  kept,  in  the  Charente,  the  office  of  the  Messa- 
geries  Royal  to  RufFec,  in  1819.  He  received  from  Miles. 
Laure  and  Agathe  de  Rastignac  a  rather  important  sum  of 
money  for  transmission  to  their  brother,  Eugene  de  Rastignac, 
Mme.  Vauquer's,  Rue  Neuve-Saint-Genevidve,  Paris,  who  was 
living  there,  a  poor  student  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Grimont,  born  about  1786,  a  priest  not  without  merit; 
cure  of  Guerande,  Brittany.  In  1836  he  was  an  assiduous 
visitor  at  the  Guenics ;  he  used  his  influence  to  the  conquest 
of  Felicite  des  Touches,  whom  he  determined  to  get  to  enter 
one  of  the  orders.  The  conversion  of  Mile,  des  Touches  was 
the  cause  of  his  appointment  as  vicar-general  of  the  diocese 
of  Nantes  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Grimprel,  a  doctor  in  the  Pantheon  quarter,  Paris,  under 
Louis  XVIIL;  he  had  among  his  patients  Mme.  Vauquer,  nee 
Conflans,  who  sent  for  him  to  attend  Vautrin,  who  suffered 
from  a  narcotic  perfidiously  administered  by  Mile.  Michon- 
neau  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Grindot,  a  French  architect  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century;  he  won  the  prize  of  Rome  in  1814.  His 
talent  was  quickly  welcomed  by  the  Parisian  middle-classes. 
Toward  the  end  of  1818  Cesar  Birotteau  confided  to  him  the 
alteration  and  adornment  of  his  suite  of  rooms  on  the  Rue 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  257 

Saint-Honore,  and  he  received  an  invitation  to  that  famous 
ball.  Matifat,  about  1821  or  1822,  commissioned  the  same 
architect  to  embellish  the  apartments  of  Mme.  Raoul  Nathan. 
He  was  also  engaged  by  Comte  de  Serizy,  1822,  to  restore 
his  castle  of  Presles,*  near  Beaumont-sur-Oise.  About  1829, 
on  the  Rue  Saint-Georges,  Grindot  embellished  a  small  man- 
sion in  which  were  successively  installed  Suzanne  Gaillard 
and  Esther  van  Gobseck.  Under  Louis-Philippe,  Arthur  de 
Rochefide  and  M.and  Mme.  Fabien  du  Ronceret  confided  work 
to  him.  His  decline  commenced  in  the  same  reign.  He  was 
not  in  vogue  later  than  the  government  of  July.  By  Chaffa- 
roux's  instructions,  he  withdrew  twenty-five  thousand  francs 
of  the  cost  for  the  decoration  of  the  four  drawing-rooms  in  the 
Thuillier  building.  Finally,  Crevel,  an  imitative  man  of  rou- 
tine, monopolized  him  for  work  on  his  official  and  mysterious 
residences  on  the  Rue  des  Sauss-ais,  Dauphin, f  and  Barbet- 
de-Jouy  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — A  Start  in  Life,  s — The  Har- 
lot's Progress,  Y"— Beatrix,  J* — Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Groison,  a  sub-officer  in  the  cavalry  of  the  Imperial 
Guards ;  then,  under  the  Restoration,  the  head-keeper  at 
Blangy,  where  he  replaced  Vaudoyer,  at  a  salary  of  three 
hundred  francs.  Montcornet,  the  mayor  of  Bourgogne  com- 
mune, married  the  old  soldier  to  an  orphan  daughter  of  one 
of  his  farmers  and  gave  them  three  acres  of  vineyards  [The 
Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Gros,  Antoine-Jean,J  the  celebrated  painter;  born  in 
Paris  in  1771  ;  died  about  the  end  of  June,  1835.  He  was 
Joseph  Brideau's  master,  and,  in  spite  of  his  parsimonious 
habits,  furnished  materials,  about  i8i8,  for  the  future  creator 

*  The  chateau  de  Presles  still  exists. 

I  The  Rue  du  Dauphin  has  lost  its  name.  To-day  it  forms  a  part  of 
the  Rue  Saint-Roch,  which  runs  from  the  Rue  de  Rivoli  to  the  Rue  Saint- 
Honore. 

%  The  painter  Gros  was  a  baron,  though  neither  Balzac  nor  the  com- 
pilers of  the  Compendium  give  him  the  title. — Tr. 
17 


258  COMPENDIUM 

of  ^'The  Venetian  Senator  and  the  Courtesan,"  which  was 
held  at  five  thousand  francs  by  a  twofold  order  of  the  admin- 
istration [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Groslier,  a  commissary  of  police  at  Arcis-sur-Aube  at  the 
beginning  of  the  canvass  of  the  electorate,  1839,  in  that  arron- 
dissement :  the  various  candidates  were  Keller,  Giguet,  Beau- 
visage,  Dorlange-Sallenauve,  and  Trailles ;  was  in  intimate 
relationship  with  the  sub-prefect,  Antonin  Goulard  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>_D]. 

Grosmort,  a  young  lad  of  Alengon  in  1816.  He  left  that 
town  during  the  most  beautiful  season  of  the  year  and  went  to 
Prebaudet,  owned  by  Mme.  du  Bousquier  (then  Mile.  Cor- 
mon),  in  order  to  announce  the  arrival  of  Troisville  at  the 
chief  place  of  the  Orne  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Grossetete,  F.,  owner  and  manager,  with  Perret,  of  a 
banking-house  at  Limoges,  under  the  Restoration.  He  had 
as  a  clerk  and  successor,  Pierre  Graslin.  When  he  retired, 
married  and  a  grandfather,  F.  Grossetdte  was  wealthy,  and 
had  a  passion  for  horticulture ;  for  many  years  he  lived  in  the 
country  in  the  vicinity  of  Limoges.  Endowed  with  a  superior 
intelligence,  he  was  able  to  understand  Veronique  Graslin, 
sought  her  society,  and  tried  to  learn  her  secrets  \  he  intro- 
duced his  godson,  Gregoire  G6rard,  to  her  [The  Country 
Parson,  ^]. 

Grossetete,  Madame  F.,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  a  person 
o-f  considerable  importance  in  Limoges,  at  the  time  of  the 
Restoration;  she  congratulated  Veronique  Sauviat  '^on  her 
happy  marriage,"  when  she  was  wedded  to  Pierre  Graslin 
[The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Grossetete,  the  youngest  brother  of  F.  GrossetSte  ;  under 
the  Restoration,  the  receiver-general  at  Bourges.  He  pos- 
sessed a  large  fortune,  which  allowed  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  Anna  to  a  Fontaine,  about  1813  [The  Country 
Parson,  JP— -Muse  of  the  Department,  CO]. 

Gro88-Narp,  Comte  de,  the  son-in-laW|  assuredly  ficti- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  259 

tious,  of  an  extraordinarily  great  lady  invented  and  repre- 
sented by  Jacqueline  Collin  to  serve  the  compromised  interests 
of  Jacques  Collin,  in  Paris,  about  the  end  of  the  Restoration 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z]. 

Grozier,  Abbe,  was  taken,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Resto- 
ration, as  the  umpire  between  two  proof-readers — of  whom 
one  was  Claude-Henri  de  Saint-Simon — in  a  discussion  con- 
cerning China  paper.  He  demonstrated  that  the  Chmese 
made  their  paper  of  bamboo  [Lost  Illusions,  'N\  Abbe  Gro- 
zier was  the  librarian  at  the  Paris  arsenal ;  he  had  been  the 
Marquis  d'Espard's  tutor.  Grozier*  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  history,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  Chinese.  He  taught 
his  learning  to  his  pupil  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Gruget,  Madame  Etienne,  born  in  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  About  1820  a  lacemaker,  No.  12  Rue  des 
Enfants-Rouges,'}'  Paris,  she  protected,  cared  for,  and  hid  in 
her  house  Gatien  Bourignard,  the  lover  of  her  daughter  Ida, 
who  committed  suicide.  Bourignard  was  Mme.  Jules  Des- 
maret's  father  [Ferragus,  &&].  Become  a  sick-nurse,  about 
the  end  of  1824,  Mme.  Gruget  attended  Athanase  Flamet  de 
la  Billardiere  [Les  Employes,  cc\  In  1828  she  practiced  the 
same  calling  at  ten  sous  a  day,  including  food.  She  then 
attended,  on  the  Rue  du  Houssay  or  du  Houssais,J  the  last 
moments  of  Comtesse  Flore  Philippe  de  Brambourg  [A  Bach- 
elor's Establishment,  J\ 

Gruget,  Ida,  daughter  of  the  preceding;  about  1820  a 
sewer  on  corsets.  No.  14  Rue  de  la  Corderie  du  Temple,  Paris ; 

*  The  Abb6  Grosier  or  Grozier,  Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Alexandre,  born 
March  17,  1743,  at  Saint-Omer;  died  December  8,  1823,  at  Paris;  the  col- 
laborator of  Fr6ron  and  Geoffroyin  the  "Ann6e  lit^raire;  "  was  the  author 
of  a  "  Histoire  g^n^rale  de  la  Chine."  Pans,  1777-1784;   12  vols,,  4mo. 

f  This  is  now  part  of  the  Rue  des  Archives,  running  from  the  Rue  Pas- 
tourelle  to  Rue  Portefoin. 

X  An  actual  portion  of  the  Rue  Taitbout  comprised  between  the  Rues  de 
Provence  and  de  la  Victoire. 


260  COMPENDIUM 

employed  by  Mme.  Meynardie.  She  was  also — at  least  during 
that  year — Gatien  Bourignard's  mistress.  Passionately  jealous, 
she  caused,  without  thinking,  a  scandal  in  the  house  of  Jules 
Desmarets,  the  son-in-law  of  her  lover ;  afterward  killed  her- 
self through  despair  of  love,  and  was  buried  in  the  little 
cemetery  of  a  village  of  Seine-et-Oise  [Ferragus,  hh\ 

Gua  Saint-Cyr,  Madame  du,  in  spite  of  the  difference 
in  appearance  caused  by  age,  passed  for  a  time  for  Alphonse 
de  Montauran's  mother.  She  had  been  married,  but  was  then 
a  widow  ;  Gua  was  not  the  woman's  real  name.  She  was  the 
last  mistress  of  Charette,  and  while  still  young  herself,  she 
altogether  replaced  him  by  the  young  Alphonse  de  Montauran. 
Mme.  du  Gua  became  intensely  jealous  of  Mile,  de  Verneuil. 
One  of  the  first  skirmishes  organized  by  Mme.  du  Gua  of  the 
Vendeans,  1799, was  unlucky  and  most  ridiculous.  *'Cha- 
rette's  old  mare  "  stole  the  money  from  the  carrier  between 
Mayenne  and  Fougeres ;  now  this  very  money  was  being  sent 
to  her  by  her  mother  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Gua  Saint-Cyr,  Du,  in  Brittany,  1799;  the  name  bor- 
rowed by  the  chief  of  the  Chouans,  Alphonse  de  Montauran, 
given  him  by  a  student  from  the  Polytechnic,  afterward  pro- 
moted in  the  navy  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Gua  Saint-Cyr,  M.  and  Madame  du,  son  and  mother, 
the  legitimate  and  actual  holders  of  this  name,  were  assassi- 
nated by  the  Chouans,  November,  1799  [The  Chouans,  'B\ 

Gudin,  Abbe,  born  about  1759;  was  one  of  the  Chouan 
chiefs,  1799.  ^^  ^^s  a  redoubtable  man,  an  obstinate  Jesuit, 
possibly  devout  enough,  but  defied  on  French  soil  the  pro- 
scriptive  edict  of  1 763.  A  firebrand  of  war  in  the  West,  Abbe 
Gudin  was  killed  by  the  Blues,  falling  nearly  under  the  eyes 
of  his  own  nephew,  the  sub-lieutenant  and  patriot  Gudin  [The 
Chouans,  ^H\. 

Gudin,  nephew  of  the  preceding,  was  a  conscript  patriot 
of  Fougeres,  Brittany,  during  the  campaign  of  1799;  in  suc- 
cession a  corporal  and  ensign.     He  received  the  first  grade 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  261 

under  Hulot.  Beau-Pied  was  in  his  command.  Gudin  was 
killed  before  Fougeres  by  Marie  de  Verneuil,  who  was  habited 
in  her  husband's,  Alphonse  Montauran,  clothing  [The  Chou- 
ans,  J5]. 

Guenee,  Madame.     See  Galardon,  Madame. 

Guenic,  Gaudebert-Calyste-Charles,  Baron  du,  born 
in  1763.  The  head  of  a  Breton  family  of  the  greatest  an- 
tiquity; he  justified  throughout  his  whole  life  the  device  in- 
scribed on  his  blazon :  Fac  !  and  without  hope  of  reward,  in 
both  Vendee  and  Brittany,  always  in  defense  of  God  and  the 
King,  with  arms  in  hand,  whether  as  soldier  or  captain ; 
associated  with  Charette,  Cathelineau,  La  Rochejacquelein, 
Elbee,  Bonchamp,  and  the  Prince  de  Loudon.  One  of  the 
commanders  in  the  campaign  of  1799,  he  took  the  surname  of 
*^the  Intimate,"  and  was,  the  same  as  Bauvan,  a  witness  of 
the  marriage  in  extremis  of  Alphonse  Montauran  to  Marie  de 
Verneuil.  Three  years  after  he  reached  Ireland ;  there  he 
married  Miss  Fanny  O'Brien,  of  a  noble  house  of  that  country. 
The  events  of  181 4  allowed  of  his  return  to  Guerande,  Loire- 
Inferieure,  where  he  and  his  relations  had  great  influence. 
As  a  consequence  of  his  constant  devotion  to  the  Royalist 
cause,  M.  du  Guenic  received  the  cross  of  Saint-Louis,  but  no 
other  reward.  He  was  incapable  of  protesting,  and  the  year 
following  intrepidly  fought  in  the  same  cause  with  General 
Travot.  The  last  Chouan  insurrection,  that  of  1832,  was 
another  one  in  which  he  took  part ;  he  was  accompanied  by 
his  only  son,  Calyste,  and  his  servitor  Gasselin.  Gaudebert- 
Calyste-Charles  du  Guenic  retook  the  Guerande  road ;  in 
spite  of  his  numerous  wounds  he  lived  a  long  time  after  that, 
dying  suddenly  in  1837,  aged  sixty-four  [The  Chouans,  JB — 
Beatrix,  jP]. 

Guenic,  Baronne  du,  wife  of  the  preceding,  Irish,  nee 
Fanny  O'Brien,  about  1793,  of  an  aristocra'.ic  race.  Poor, 
but  surrounded  with  wealthy  relatives  by  marriage,  beautiful 
and  distinguished,  she  married,  in  1813,  Gaudebert-Calyste- 


262  COMPENDIUM 

Charles,  Baron  du  Guenic,  following  him  soon  afterward  to 
Guerande,  where  she  consecrated  her  youth  to  his  life.  Fanny 
du  Guenic  brought  Gaudebert-Calyste-Louis  into  the  world ; 
she  behaved  to  him  more  as  an  elder  sister  than  a  mother ; 
she  was  prejudiced  against  his  first  two  mistresses,  but  ended 
by  understanding  Felicite  des  Touches,  but  always  trembled 
at  the  sight  and  mention  of  Beatrix  Rochefide;  this  lasted  until 
the  day  of  the  baron's  death  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Guenic,  Gaudebert-Calyste-Louis  du,  born  without  doubt 
in  1815,  at  Guerande,  Loire-Inferieure;  the  only  son  of  the  two 
foregoing  ones,  who  both  worshiped  him.  He  was  the  moral 
and  physical  picture  of  his  mother.  His  father  would  have 
made  a  gentleman  of  the  olden  times  of  him.  Chevalier 
Calyste  fought  for  the  legitimate  Bourbon  branch  in  1832. 
He  had  other  aspirations  which  were  aroused  by  the  illustrious 
lady  of  a  manor  in  the  neighborhood.  Mile,  des  Touches. 
She  would  not  accept  him  as  her  lover,  but  presented  him  to 
Mme.  Arthur  de  Rochefide.  Beatrix  played  a  bad  comedy 
with  the  heir  of  the  house  of  Guenic,  similar  to  that  essayed 
by  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  in  regard  to  Montriveau.  He 
married  Mile.  Sabine  de  Grandlieu ;  he  took  the  title  of  baron 
after  his  father's  death,  and  lived  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Ger- 
main,* Paris.  He  was  visited,  1838  to  1840,  by  Georges  de 
Maufrigneuse,  Savinien  de  Portenduere,  the  Rhetores,  and 
the  Lenoncourt-Chaulieus.  He  again  encountered  Mme.  de 
Rochefide  and  became  her  lover.  The  Duchesse  de  Grand- 
lieu  broke  up  their  adulterous  love.  The  Abbe  Brossette, 
Miguel  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  Maxime  de  Trailles,  Rusticoli  de  la 
Palferine,  Mme.  Fabien  du  Ronceret,  and  Arthur  de  Rochefide 
(Beatrix's  husband)  seconded  the  efforts  of  the  young  Baron 
du  Guenic's  mother-in-law  [Beatrix,  JP\ 

Guenic,  Madame  Calyste  du,  nee  Sabine  de  Grandlieu; 
wife  of  the  preceding,  whom  she  married  about  1837  ;  about 
the  third  year  after  she  was  in  danger  of  death,  at  the  time 
*  On  the  Rue  Bourbon  or  de  Bourbon ;  now  the  Rue  de  Lille. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  263 

when  she  was  confined,  as  she  found  she  had  a  rival,  on  the 
Rue  de  Chartres-du  Roule,*  in  Beatrix  de  Rochefide  [Bea- 
trix, J>]. 

Guenic,  Zephirine  du,  born  in  1756,  at  Guerande;  she 
lived  nearly  all  her  life  with  her  younger  brother,  Gaudebert- 
Calyste-Charles,  Baron  du  Guenic ;  she  partook  of  his  ideas, 
principles,  and  traditions.  She  dreamed  of  the  restoration  of 
that  noble  house  and  pushed  her  economy  to  the  point  of 
avarice.  For  a  long  time  Mile,  du  Guenic  desired  as  a  niece, 
through  marriage.  Mile.  Charlotte  de  Kergarouet  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Guepin,  of  Provins,  established  in  Paris.  He  was  one  of 
the  leading  dry  goods  merchants  at  the  "Three  Distaffs,"  Rue 
Saint-Denis;  he  had  as  head-clerk  his  compatriot  Jerome-Denis 
Rogron.  In  18 15  he  gave  up  his  business  to  his  grandson 
and  returned  to  Provins,  where  his  family  formed  a  clan. 
He  there  afterward  met  Jerome-Denis  Rogron  [Pierrette,  'i\. 

Guepin,  a  young  soldier,  a  thief  and  deserter ;  a  hulks  com- 
panion of  Farrabesche  [The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Guerbet,  a  rich  farmer  in  the  arrondissement  of  Ville-aux- 
Fayes;  married  in  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  or  the 
early  ones  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  wife  was  the  only 
daughter  of  Mouchon  junior,  then  the  Conches  letter-carrier. 
After  his  father-in-law's  death  he  succeeded  him  [The  Peasan- 
try, n\ 

Guerbet,  brother  of  the  foregoing  and  allied  to  the  Gau- 
bertins  and  the  Gendrins.  A  wealthy  tax-collector  at  Sou- 
langes,  and  called  by  Fourchon  **Guerbel  el  parcepteur  of 
Soulanges."  A  fat,  deaf  fellow,  with  a  butter  face  and  a  false 
wig,  rings  in  his  ears,  and  an  immense  neck ;  he  was  a  "  man 
of  spirit"  in  the  little  town,  and  one  of  the  heroes  of  Mme. 
Soudry's  salon  [The  Peasantry,  2^]. 

Guerbet,  in  1823,  judge  of  instruction  at  Ville-aux-Fayes. 
Like  his  father  the  tax-collector,  and  his  uncle  the  letter- 

*  Since  1851  this  has  formed  a  part  of  the  Rue  de  Courcelles  running 
from  the  Rue  Monceau  to  the  Boulevard  de  Courcelles. 


264  COMPENDIUM 

carrier,  he  lived  in  entire  accord  with  Gaubertin  [The  Peasan- 
try, M\. 

Guerbet,  procureur  of  the  Chdtelet  of  Paris  under  the  old 
regime  \  the  predecessor  of  Bordin,  who  purchased  the  prac- 
tice from  him  in  1806  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Guillaunie,  during  a  part  and  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  first  a  clerk  to  Chevrel,  a  draper,  Rue  Saint- 
Denis,  Paris,  at  the  sign  of  the  **  Cat  and  Racket,"  near  the 
Rue  du  Petit-Lion.*  He  afterward  became  his  son-in-law 
and  succeeded  him  in  the  business ;  he  became  wealthy,  and 
retired  under  the  first  Empire,  after  having  married  both  his 
daughters  on  the  same  day.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
consulting  committee  on  the  billeting  of  troops,  then  being 
changed  in  the  quarter ;  he  lived  at  this  time  on  the  Rue  du 
Colombier ;  f  he  frequented  the  Ragons  and  the  Birotteaus, 
and  was,  with  Mme.  Guillaume,  among  those  invited  to  the 
ball  at  the  *' Queen  of  Roses,"  given  December  17,  1818,  on 
the  Rue  Saint-Honore  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t — 
C6sar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Guillaume,  Madame,  wife  of  the  above,  nee  Chevrel; 
cousin  of  Mme.  Roguin.  A  rigid  bourgeoise,  who  was  scan- 
dalized by  the  marriage  of  her  second  daughter,  Augustine 
Guillaume,  who  became  Mme.  Theodore  Sommervieux  [At 
the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f]. 

Guillaume,  Augustine.  See  Sommervieux,  Madame 
Theodore  de. 

Guillaume,  in  1823,  a  servant  in  the  employ  of  the  Mar- 
quis d'Aiglemont  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S~\. 

Guinard,  Abbe,  a  priest  at  Sancerre,  1836,  at  the  time 
when  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye  entertained  Etienne  Lousteau  and 
Horace  Bianchon  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

*  Really  a  part  of  the  Rue  Tiquetonne  running  from  the  Rue  Saint- 
Denis  to  the  Rue  Montorgueil. 

\  A  portion  of  the  Rue  Jacob,  situated  between  the  Rues  Seine  and 
Bonaparte. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  265 

Gyas,  Marquise  de,  living  at  Bordeaux,  under  the  Resto- 
ration. The  Marquis  de  Gyas,  in  spite  of  the  marquise's  vex- 
ation with  Mme.  Evangelista,  was  a  witness  to  the  marriage  of 
Natalie  Evangelista  to  Paul  de  Manerville  [A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, aa]. 


H 


Habert,  Abbe:,  under  the  Restoration,  vicar  of  Provins ;  a 

redoubtable,  ambitious  ecclesiastic;  through  Vinet,  he  brought 
about  the  marriage  of  his  sister.  Celeste  Habert,  with  Jerome- 
Denis  Rogron  [Pierette,  t]. 

Habert,  Celeste,  sister  of  the  foregoing;  born  about 
1797 ;  in  Provins  she  managed  a  boarding-school  for  girls,  in 
the  latter  years  of  the  reign  of  Charles  X.  She  was  a  regular 
caller  on  M.  and  Mile.  Rogron  [Pierrette,  l]. 

Hadot,  Madame,  who  lived  in  1836,  at  Charite,  Nievre; 
confounded  one  evening  with  Mme.  Barthelemy-Hadot,  a 
French  romancist  of  the  nineteenth  century,  who  had  been 
spoken  of  at  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye's  house,  near  Sancerre 
[Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Halga,  Chevalier  du,  a  mariner  much  esteemed  by  Suf- 
fren  and  Portenduere;  captain  of  Kergarouet's  flag-ship,  a 
lover  of  that  admiral's  wife,  whom  he  survived.  He  served 
in  the  Indies  and  Russia ;  he  refused  to  bear  arms  against 
France;  retired  to  Paris  with  a  meagre  pension,  after  the 
times  of  the  emigration;  was  well  acquainted  with  Richelieu. 
He  frequented,  near  the  Madeleine,  the  Mesdames  de  Rou- 
ville,  who  were  proteges  of  his  late  friend.  The  death  of 
Louis  XVin.  took  Halga  back  to  his  native  town  of  Gu^rande, 
where  he  became  mayor  and  still  lived  in  1836.  M.  du  Halga 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Guenics  and  made  himself  ridicu- 
lous by  an  exaggerated  solicitude  for  the  imaginary  maladies 
of  his  dog  Thisbe  [The  Purse,  p — Beatrix,  J?]. 


266  COMPENDIUM 

Halmer,  a  renamed  firm  whose  failure,  about  1830,  caused 
the  ruin  and  death  of  Louis  Gaston  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Halpertius — also  spelt :  Halphertius — the  name  taken 
by  Jacques  Collin,  under  Louis-Philippe,  who  figured  as  a 
**  Swedish  lord  crazy  on  music,  and  a  philanthropist";  the 
protector  of  Luigia  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  1>J[>,  JEE]. 

Halpersohn,  Moses  or  Moise,  a  Polish  Jew  and  refugee, 
a  capable  physician,  a  communist,  very  eccentric,  of  great 
miserliness,  a  friend  of  Lelewel,  the  revolutionary.  Under 
Louis-Philippe  he  attended  Vanda  de  Mergi,  Paris,  who  had 
already  been  given  up  by  a  number  of  doctors,  and  was  the 
only  one  among  them  all  who  understood  the  complicated 
malady  of  Baron  de  Bourlac's  daughter  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T]. 

Hannequin,  Leopold,  notary,  Paris.  *'La  Revue  de 
I'Est,"  which  appeared  as  a  periodical,  under  Louis-Philippe, 
gave,  in  a  new  autobiographical  vein,  the  story  of  its  editor- 
in-chief,  Albert  Savarus,  entitled  'M'Ambitieux  par  amour." 
During  the  Monarchy  of  the  barricades,  Maitre  Leopold  Han- 
nequin was  Albert  Savarus'  faithful  friend ;  he  knew  his  first 
and  last  place  of  retreat.  At  that  time  Hannequin  had  a 
practice  in  Paris.  He  married  well,  became  the  father  of  a 
family,  was  deputy- mayor  of  one  of  the  arrondissements,  and 
obtained  the  decoration  for  a  wound  received  at  Saint-Merri's 
convent.  The  faubourg  Saint-Germain,  Saint-George's  quar- 
ter, and  the  Marais  welcomed  and  employed  Leopold  Hanne- 
quin. The  Grandlieus  called  him  in  to  draw  up  the  marriage- 
contract  of  their  daughter  Sabine  with  Calyste  du  Guenic, 
1837.  Four  years  later  Hannequin  was  the  instrument  of  the 
old  Marechal  Hulot,  Rue  du  Montparnasse,  in  the  disposition 
made  concerning  Mile.  Fischer  and  Mme.  Steinbock.  About 
1845,  on  HeloVse  Brisetout's  recommendation,  Maitre  Hanne- 
quin also  wrote  Sylvain  Pons*  will,  on  the  Rue  de  Normandie 
[Albert  Savaron,  /—Beatrix,  P— -Cousin  Betty,  w — Cousin 
Pons,  05]. 


CO  ME  DIE  HUMAINE.  267 

Happe  &  Duncker,  noted  bankers  at  Amsterdam,  great 
amateurs  in  pictures,  ostentatious  parvenus;  in  1813  they 
bought  Balthazar  Claes'  beautiful  collection  and  paid  him  one 
thousand  ducats  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  _Z>]. 

Haudry,  a  physician  in  Paris  during  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  An  old  man,  the  defender  of  the  old 
formulae;  had  a  large  practice  among  the  middle-classes; 
successively  he  attended :  the  Cesar  Birotteaus,  the  Jules 
Desmarets,  Mme.  Descoings,  Poiret  the  younger,  and  Vanda 
de  Mergi.  Dr.  Haudry's  name  was  still  mentioned  about  the 
end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Fer- 
ragus,  hh — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  tf — The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T — Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Haugoult,  Father,  an  Oratorian  and  regent  of  the  col- 
lege at  Vendome,  about  181 1.  Harsh  and  strict,  he  could 
not  understand  the  budding  genius  of  one  of  his  pupils,  Louis 
Lambert,  and  destroyed  the  "■  Treatise  on  the  Will,"*  written 
by  that  boy  [Louis  Lambert,  1^]. 

Hauteserre,  D',  born  in  1751 ;  grandfather  of  the  Marquis 
de  Cinq-Cygne ;  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne's  guardian;  Robert 
and  Adrien  d'Hauteserre's  father.  A  timorous  gentleman,  he 
would  have  treated  with  the  Revolutionists.  For  his  part, 
1803,  he  saw  that  the  adventures  that  members  of  his  family 
were  engaged  in  meant  the  jeopardizing  of  their  heads. 
Malin  de  Gondreville,  Peyrade,  Corentin,  Fouche,  and  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte  all  greatly  frightened  M.  d'Hauteserre.  He 
buried  his  boys  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff—T^Q  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  1>X)]. 

Hauteserre,  Madame  d',  born  in  1763,  wife  of  the  pre- 
ceding, mother  of  Robert  and  Adrien  d'Hauteserre;  in  her 
whole  manners  she  was  a  lady  of  the  old  regime.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  Goujets  she  was  very  indulgent  to  Mile,  de 
Cinq-Cygne,  the  intrepid  and  fiery  anti-revolutionary  of  the 
arrondissement  of  Arcis,  during  1803  and  the  following 
*  A  treatise  actually  written  by  Balzac. 


268  COMPENDIUM 

years.  Mme.  d'Hauteserre  buried  her  sons  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery,  //]. 

Hauteserre,  Abbe  d',  brother  to  Laurence  de  Cinq- 
Cygne's  guardian  ;  his  character  was  in  many  respects  like 
that  of  his  young  relation ;  he  was  struck  by  a  bullet,  in  1792, 
when  the  populace  of  Troyes  attacked  the  hotel  de  Cinq- 
Cygne ;  this  caused  his  death  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff^ 

Hauteserre,  Robert  d',  the  eldest^' ^8n  of  M.  d'Haute- 
serre, Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne's  guardian.  He  was  rough 
and  repellent  to  men,  in  spite  of  an  agreeably  exterior;  an 
honorable  man,  he  followed  the  fortunes  of  his  brother  Adrien 
and  his  relatives  and  allies,  the  de  Simeuses. '  Like  them,  he 
emigrated  during  the  first  Revolution,  and  returned  with  them 
to  the  borders  of  Arcis,  about  1803.  Also,  like  them,  he  was 
smitten  by  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne.  Accused  of  having 
abducted  Senator  Malin,  he  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to 
ten  years  of  hard  labor.  Robert  d'Hauteserre  obtained  the 
Emperor's  pardon,  and  was  sent  to  a  regiment  of  cavalry  as 
an  ensign.  He  died  a  colonel,  at  the  attack  on  the  Moskowa 
redoubt,  September  7,  1812  [A  Historical  Mystery,  j^]. 

Hauteserre,  Adrien  d',  second  son  of  M.  d'Hauteserre, 
Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne's  guardian ;  he  differed  from  his 
eldestbrotner,  in  being  more  lively  and  quicker  of  intelli- 
gence. The  same  sentiment  of  love  and  honor  animated  both. 
Adrien,  like  Robert,  emigrated  and  returned  to  the  same 
condemnation  ;  he  also  received  Napoleon's  pardon  and  was 
admitted  into  the  army ;  he  replaced  his  brother  Robert,  who 
was  killed  in  the  attack  on  Moskowa,  and,  as  a  recompense 
for  numerous  serious  wounds,  was  made  a  brigadier-general 
after  the  battle  of  Dresden,  August  26—27,  18 13.  The  doors 
of  Cinq-Cygne  castle  were  opened  their  widest  to  admit  the 
mutilated  Adrien  ;  by  a  mutual  inclination,  Laurence  de  Cinq- 
Cygne  and  he  were  married.  This  marriage  made  Adrien 
Marquis  de  Cinq-Cygn-e.  Under  the  Restoration,  Adrien 
d'  Hauteserre  was  raised  to  the  peerage,  promoted  a  lieutenant- 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  269 

general,  and  received  the  cross  of  Saint-Louis.  He  died  in 
1829,  mourned  by  his  wife,  his  parents,  and  children  [A  His- 
torical Mystery,  ff\ 

Hautoy,  Du,  under  the  Restoration,  a  family  of  Saumur, 
rich  enough  to  call  upon  M.  and  Mme.  des  Grassins  [Eugenie 
Grandet,  M\ 

Hautoy,  Francis  du,  a  gentleman  of  Angouleme,  was 
consul  at  Valencia.  Between  1821  and  1824  he  lived  in  the 
chief  place  in  la  Charente ;  he  frequented  the  Bargetons; 
lived  in  the  most  intimate  friendship  with  the  Senonches;  he 
passed  for  being  the  father  of  Frangoise  de  la  Haye — the 
daughter  of  Mme.  de  Senonches.  Francis  du  Hautoy  seemed 
rather  superior  to  the  folk  around  him  [A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  JM — Lost  Illusions,  'N\ 

Henri,  a  police-spy  in  Paris,  1840;  detailed  by  Corentin 
and  placed  in  the  Thuillier  and  Nepomucene  Picot  house- 
holds, with  the  orders  to  look  after  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Herbelot,  a  notary  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  during  the  election 
time  in  the  spring  of  1839;  ^  frequenter  of  the  Beauvisage, 
Marion,  and  Mollot  families.  He  was  employed  by  or  acted 
for  Maxime  de  Trailles  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DD']. 

Herbelot,  Malvina,  born  in  1809;  sister  of  the  above, 
who  had  an  instinctive  curiosity  about  the  legislative  elec- 
tions in  the  arrondissement  of  Arcis.  Malvina  Herbelot  fre- 
quented the  Beauvisages  and  Mollots,  as  did  her  brother,  and, 
in  spite  of  her  thirty  years,  sought  the  society  of  their  young 
heiresses  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DD']. 

Herbomez,  of  Mayence,  called  ''  General-Hardi,"  a  Chauf- 
feur compromised  in  the  Royalist  movement  in  which  Henri- 
ette  Bryond  took  part,  under  the  first  Empire.  Like  the 
daughter  of  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie,  he, gave  his  head  to  that 
army  of  rebellion.  His  execution  took  place  in  1809  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Herbomez,   D*,  brother  of  the  preceding,  but,  lucklier 


270  COMPENDIUM 

than  he,  he  ended  by  becoming  a  count  and  receiving  the 
post  of  receiver-general  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Heredia,  Marie.     See  Soria,  Duchesse  de. 

Herisson,  one  of  attorney  Desroches'  clerks,  1822  ;  he 
knew  Godeschal,  Oscar  Husson,  and  Marest,  in  the  office 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Hermann,  a  Nuremburg  merchant,  who,  in  October, 
1799,  commanded  a  company  formed  against  the  French. 
Arrested  and  thrown  into  Andernach  prison,  he  had  as  a  com- 
panion in  captivity  Prosper  Magnan,  a  young  surgeon,  a  native 
of  Beauvais,  Oise.  Hermann  became  aware  of  the  terrible 
secret  of  an  unjust  detention.  He  afterward  recounted  the 
story  before  F.  Taillefer,  the  unpunished  author  of  a  double 
crime  which  had  caused  the  detention  and  death  of  an  inno- 
cent man  [The  Red  House,  cZ]. 

Heron,  a  notary  at  Issoudun,  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, was,  in  the  matter  of  placing  their  affairs  in  order,  the 
counsel  of  the  Rougets,  father  and  son  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, eT]. 

Herouville,  Marechal  d*,  whose  ancestors  were  in  evi- 
dence in  old  French  history  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  and  the  pages  of  which  were  marked  with  their 
brilliant,  mysterious,  and  dramatic  doings ;  the  same  as  the 
Due  de  Nivron.  He  was  the  last  governor  of  Normandy ;  he 
returned  after  the  emigration  with  Louis  XVIIL  in  181 4,  and 
died  of  old  age  in  1819  [The  Hated  Son,  ^ — Modeste  Mig- 
non,  ^]. 

Herouville,  Due  d',  son  of  the  foregoing;  born  in  1796 
at  Vienna,  Austria,  during  the  emigration;  the  ''fruit  of  the 
autumnal  matrimony  of  the  last  governor  of  Normandy,"  a 
descendant  of  a  Count  d' Herouville,  a  Norman  soldier  under 
Henri  IV.  and  Louis  XIIL  He  was  Marquis  de  Saint-Sever, 
Due  de  Nivron,  Comte  de  Bayeux,  Vicomte  d'Essigny,  master 
of  the  King's  horse,  a  peer  of  France,  chevalier  of  the  orders 
of  the  Spur  and  Golden  Fleece,  and  a  grandee  of  Spain, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  271 

though  his  origin  was  said  to  have  been  of  the  most  modest. 
The  founder  of  his  house  had  been  a  doorkeeper  or  verger  to 
Robert  of  Normandy.  The  device  on  his  blazon  was:  Hems 
Villa — the  Chiefs  House.  In  any  case  his  ungraceful  ex- 
terior (he  was  a  sort  of  hunchback)  and  the  insufficiency  of 
the  financial  resources  of  the  Due  d'Herouville  were  in  glaring 
contrast  to  his  high  aristocratic  birth.  His  position  gave 
him  the  use  of  a  hotel  on  the  Rue  Saint-Thomas  du  Louvre,* 
Paris,  and  a  frequenter  of  the  Chaulieus.  Herouville  kept 
Fanny  Beaupre,  who  cost  him  pretty  dear.  In  1829  he  sought 
the  hand  of  the  wealthy  heiress  of  the  Mignons  de  la  Bastie, 
Havre.  During  Louis-Philippe's  reign  the  Due  de  Herouville, 
then  in  the  full  tide  of  wealth  and  pride,  was  intimate  with 
the  Hulot  family;  he  was  known  as  a  famous  amateur  in  art; 
his  residence  was  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain,  on  the  Rue 
de  Varenne.  Soon  after  he  carried  off  Josepha  Mirah  from 
Hulot,  establishing  her  with  luxurious  surroundings.  After- 
ward he  generously  furnished  Hulot  with  an  establishment  for 
himself  and  Olympe  Bijou,  Mme.  Grenouville,  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Maur-du-Temple  [The  Hated  Son,  jsj— The  Collection 
of  Antiquities,  aa — Modeste  Mignon,  JS!— Cousin  Betty,  ir]. 

Herouville,  Mademoiselle  d',  aunt  of  the  foregoing; 
she  dreamed  of  a  rich  marriage  for  that  abortion,  a  kind  of 
bad  reproduction  of  the  Herouvilles  of  centuries  past.  She 
desired  Marie-Modeste  Mignon  de  la  Bastie  for  him  ;  but  her 
aristocratic  pride  had  once  repulsed  the  demoiselles  Mongenod 
and  Augusta  de  Nucingen  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK.\ 

Herouville,  Helene  d',  niece  and  sister  of  the  two  fore- 
going;  she  accompanied  them  to  Havre  in  1829;  after  this 
she  entertained  friendly  relations  with  the  Mignons  [Modeste 
Mignon,  'K.\ 

Herrera,  Carlos,  an  unacknowledged  son  of  the  Due 
d'Ossuna,  a  canon  in  Toledo  cathedral ;  he  was  charged  by 

*  This  street,  which  has  been  out  of  existence  for  a  long  time,  now 
lorms  a  part  of  the  Place  du  Carrousel. 


272  COMPENDIUM 

King  Ferdinand  VII.  with  a  political  mission  to  France.  He 
was  drawn  into  an  ambuscade  and  killed  by  Jacques  Collin, 
who  despoiled  him  and  took  his  place  as  an  envoy,  about  1830 
[Lost  Illusions,  ^— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y — Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar^  ;§;]. 

Hiclar,  a  musician  at  Paris,  1845  5  ^^  ^^^  received  by 
Dubourdieu,  the  symbolic  painter  and  the  creator  of  a  picture 
of  *' Harmony";  he  was  given  instructions  to  compose  a 
symphony  suitable  to  be  played  before  that  composition  [The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  te]. 

Hiley,  called  the  laborer,  a  Chauffeur,  and  the  most  cun- 
ning of  his  accomplices  in  the  second  movement  of  the 
Royalists  of  the  Orne,  in  which  Henriette  Bryond  took  part 
under  the  first  Empire.  He  joined  the  army  of  the  rebellion 
at  the  cost  of  his  head.  He  was  executed  in  1809  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Hippolyte,  a  young  officer  and  aide-de-camp  to  General 
Eble  during  the  Russian  campaign  ;  a  friend  of  Philippe  de 
Sucy's.  Killed  in  an  attack  on  the  Russian  forces,  November 
28,  181 2,  near  Studzianka  [Farewell,  e\. 

Hochon,  born  at  Issoudun  about  1738;  was  receiver  of 
taxes  at  Selles,  Berry.  Hochon  married  substitute  Lousteau's 
sister,  Mile.  Maximilienne ;  by  her  he  had  three  children ; 
one  daughter  became  Mme.  Borniche.  M.  Hochon's  mar- 
riage and  the  political  changes  of  that  time  caused  his  return 
to  his  native  town,  where  people  called  his  family  les  cinq 
cochons^ — the  five  pigs.  This  jest  had  a  long  life,  for  M. 
Hochon,  in  spite  of  his  proverbial  avarice,  adopted  Francois 
Hochon,  Baruch  and  Adolphine  Borniche.  M.  Hochon. died 
at  a  good  age ;  he  still  lived  at  the  end  of  the  Restoration, 
and  gave  good  adviqe  to  the  Bridaus  about  reclaiming  the 
Rouget  succession  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Hochon,  Madame,  nee  Maximilienne  Lousteau,  wife  of 
the  foregoing,  about  1750;  sister  of  the  substitute  Lousteau  at 
*  A  pun  on  the  pronunciation  of  les  cinq  {H)ochons, 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  273 

Issoudun ;  she  was  also  godmother  of  Mme.  Bridau,  nee 
Rouget.  She  for  many  years  took  refuge  in  a  gentle  and 
resigned  spirit ;  she  was  effaced  as  mother  of  the  family  and 
lived  the  life  of  a  second  Felix  Grandet's  wife  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  «/]. 

Hochon,  the  eldest  son  of  M.  and  Mme.  Hochon ;  he 
buried  both  his  brother  and  sister;  he  married  when  very 
young  a  rich  woman  by  whom  he  had  one  son.  He  was 
killed  in  1 813  at  the  battle  of  Hanau  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, «7]. 

Hochon,  Francois,  son  of  the  foregoing;  born  in  1798. 
He  was  orphaned  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  was  adopted  by 
his  paternal  grandparents,  living  with  them  in  the  town  of 
Issoudun  ;  his  cousins,  the  young  Borniches,  also  lived  there. 
Francois  Hochon  was  a  secret  visitor  of  his  ally,  Maxence 
Gilet,  and  figured  as  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Idlesse  until 
the  time  came  when  this  was  found  out  by  his  grandfather. 
His  grandfather  banished  the  young  man,  treating  him  with 
much  severity,  and  sent  him  to  Poitiers,  where  he  allowed  him 
an  annual  income  of  six  hundred  francs  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, tT\ 

Honorine.     See  Bauvan,  Comtesse  Octave  de. 

Hopwood,  Lady  Julia,  an  Englishwoman,  who  made  a 
journey  in  1818-19  to  Spain ;  she  had  a  maid  under  the  name 
of  Caroline,  who  was  none  other  than  Antoinette  de  Langeais, 
a  fugitive  from  Paris,  whence  she  fled  on  account  of  Montri- 
veau  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh\ 

Horeau,  Jacques,  called  ''the  Stuart";  had  been  lieu- 
tenant of  the  69th  demi-brigade.  He  became  affiliated  with 
Tinteniac,  and  was  known  to  have  participated  in  the  Qui- 
beron  expedition  ;  he  was  a  Chauffeur;  he  was  compromised 
in  the  time  of  the  first  Empire  in  the  Royalist  movement  of 
the  Orne,  by  which  Henriette  Bryond  lost  her  life.  Jacques 
Horeau  had  to  submit  to  the  same  destiny.  He  was  beheaded 
in  1809  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 
18 


274  COMPENDIUM 

Hortense  was,  under  Louis-Philippe,  one  of  Lord  Dud- 
ley's numerous  mistresses.  Mile.  Hortense  lived  on  the  Rue 
Trouchet,  at  the  time  when  Cerizet,  through  Antonia  Chocar- 
delle,  so  effectually  mystified  Maxime  de  Trailles  [A  Man  of 
Business,  I — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)  J)]. 

Hostal,  Maurice  de  l',  born  in  1802 ;  the  living  picture 
of  Byron ;  the  nephew  and  like  the  adopted  son  of  Abbe 
Loraux.  On  the  Rue  Payenne,  Marais,  he  was  first  the  secre- 
tary and  afterward  the  confidant  of  Octave  de  Bauvan.  He 
knew  Honorine  de  Bauvan,  Rue  Saint-Maur-Popincourt  j  he 
was  not  smitten  by  his  benefactor's  choice  for  him  ;  he  became 
a  diplomat  and  left  France.  The  Italian  Onorina  Pedrotti 
became  his  wife  ;  by  her  he  had  two  children.  About  1836, 
while  consul  at  Genoa,  he  met  with  Octave  de  Bauvan,  who 
died  a  widower,  leaving  his  son  in  his,  Hostal's,  care.  M. 
de  r Hostal  received  Claud  Vignon,  L^on  de  Lora,  and  Felicite 
des  Touches,  and  in  their  presence  told  of  the  conjugal  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  Bauvans  [Honorine,  fe]. 

Hostal,  Madame  Maurice  de  l',  nee  Onorina  Pedrotti, 
wife  of  the  preceding.  A  beautiful  and  exceptionally  wealthy 
Genoese.*  She  was  rather  jealous  of  the  consul ;  she  possibly 
heard  the  story  told  to  the  artists  Vignon,  Lora,  and  Felicite 
des  Touches  [Honorine,  Ji\. 

Huet,  Jacques,  in  1787,  was  clerk  to  Maitre  Bordin,  Paris. 
He  without  doubt  had  Malin  de  Gondreville,  Grevin,  etc.,  as 
colleagues  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Hulot,  born  in  1766,  served  under  the  first  Republic  and 
the  Empire.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  wars  and  tragedies 
of  the  times.  Hulot  commanded  the  72d  demi-brigade,  in 
the  Chouan  insurrection  of  1799.  ^^  fought  Montauran. 
He  remained  a  democrat  under  the  Empire,  but  Bonaparte 
rewarded  his  zeal  as  a  soldier.  Hulot  became  colonel  of  the 
grenadiers  of  the  Guard,  Comte  de  Forzheim,  and  obtained 

*  Ordinarily  the  daughters  of  families  in  Genoa  are  disinherited,  much 
to  their  prejudice. 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  275 

the  marechalat.  He  retired  to  a  magnificent  mansion  situated 
on  the  Rue  du  Montparnasse  ;*  there  he  passed  his  last  years 
very  simply.  He  was  the  friend  of  Cottin  de  Wissembourg, 
who  was  afflicted  with  deafness,  and  was  surrounded  with  the 
family  of  his  brother,  which  was  much  disturbed,  1849. 
Hulot  had  a  superb  funeral  [The  Chouans,  J5 — Muse  of  the 
Department,  CC — Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Hulot  d'Ervy,  Baron  Hector,  born  about  1775,  brother 
of  the  preceding;  he  was  happily  called  Hulot  d'Ervy,  in 
order  to  distinguish  him  from  the  marechal,  his  eldest  brother. 
Hulot  d'Ervy  became  a  commissary  of  provender  under  the 
Republic ;  he  was  created  baron  under  the  Empire.  During 
one  or  another  of  these  periods  he  married  Adeline  Fischer, 
by  whom  he  had  two  children.  In  each  successive  govern- 
ment he  was  favored — he  became  steward-general,  chief  of 
division  in  the  War  Office,  councilor  of  State,  and  a  grand 
officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  His  life  of  private  debauchery 
dated  from  this  time,  and  he  was  installed  at  many  different 
addresses:  the  Rues  de  I'Universite,  Plumet,  Vaneau,  du 
Dauphin,  Saint-Maur-du-Temple,  la  Pepinidre,  la  Bienfaisance 
(Passage  du  Soleilf),  and  Louis-le-Grand,  Paris.  Each  of 
his  successive  mistresses — Jenny  Cadine,  Josepha  Mirah, Valerie 
Marneffe,  Olympe  Bijou-Grenouville,  Elodie  Chardin,  Atala 
Judici,  and  Agathe  Piquetard — caused  him  to  fall  lower  in  the 
social  scale,  and  hastened  his  dishonor.  For  some  time  he 
lay  hidden  under  the  names  of  Thoul,  Thore^  and  Vyder ;  all 
anagrams  of  Hulot,  Hector,  and  d'Ervy.     The  usurious  per- 

*  Probably  No.  23,  not  far  from  the  house  where  Sainte-Beuve  died, 
f  The  Passage  du  Soleil  has  become  the  Galerie  de  Cherbourg, 

Note. — The  Hulots  d'Ervy  who  figure  in  the  Comedie  Humaine  are 
not  in  any  way  connected  with  the  Hulot  family  who  to-day  represent  the 
name  which  has  been  made  illustrious  by  three  generations  of  Hulots, 
under  the  first  Empire,  the  Restoration,  and  the  government  of  July;  they 
are  to  be  distinguished,  in  fact,  by  the  name  d'Ervy,  borrowed  from  the 
place  of  their  origin. 


276  COMPENDIUM 

secutions  of  Samanon  nor  the  influence  of  his  family  were 
able  to  correct  Hulot  d'Ervy,  who,  after  the  death  of  his 
wife,  soon  remarried,  on  February  i,  1846,  with  Agathe 
Piquetard,  his  kitchen-girl  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Hulot  d'Ervy,  Baronne  Hector,  wife  of  the  preceding, 
nee  Adeline  Fischer,  in  a  village  of  the  Vosges,  about  1 790 ; 
she  was  remarkable  for  her  beauty,  and  became  married  by 
reciprocal  inclination,  in  spite  of  her  lowly  birth;  for  a  long 
time  they  lived  happily  together;  she  was  loved,  petted,  and 
worshiped  by  her  husband  and  venerated  by  her  brother-in- 
law.  It  was  perhaps  at  the  end  of  the  Empire  that  Hector 
Hulot's  infidelities  brought  unhappiness  upon  her.  She  bore 
him  two  children :  Victorin  and  Hortense.  Only  for  her  mater- 
nal uneasiness  the  baronne  would  have  pardoned  the  successive 
wrong-doings  of  her  husband.  The  honor  of  the  name  and 
the  marriage  of  Mile.  Hulot  kept  her  attention.  She  vainly 
offered  herself  to  Celeste  Crevel,  whom  she  had  once  repulsed, 
and  submitted  to  the  insults  of  that  parvenu ;  she  implored 
Josepha  Mirah  to  detach  him  from  Atala  Judici,  all  for  the 
advantage  of  her  family.  The  last  years  of  her  life  she  passed 
in  charitable  work.  Victorin's  intervention,  the  death  of 
Comte  de  Forzheim,  Lisbeth  Fischer,  and  M.  and  Mme. 
Crevel  seemed  to  give  her  a  sense  of  security  for  the  future, 
but  she  surprised  Hector  and  Agathe  Piquetard  loving  each 
other,  and  this  completely  broke  down  Mme.  Hulot  d'Ervy, 
who  for  a  long  time  had  been  afllicted  with  a  nervous  trem- 
bling. She  died  in  the  neighborhood  of  fifty-six  years  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\. 

Hulot,  Victorin,  the  eldest  of  the  two  children  of  the  pre- 
ceding. He  married  Mile.  Celestine  Crevel,  and  had  two  chil- 
dren by  this  union.  He  became,  under  Louis-Philippe,  one 
of  the  first  barristers  in  Paris.  Was  a  deputy,  advocated  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  was  consulting  barrister  to  the  prefec- 
ture of  police,  and  counsel  of  the  civil  list.  Victorin  Hulot 
made  eighteen  thousand  francs  of  income.     He  had  a  seat  in 


/ 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  Til 

the  Palais-Bourbon  when  the  discussion  of  Dorlange-Salle- 
nauve's  election  was  brought  up.  He  was  able,  through  his 
connections  with  the  police,  to  deliver  his  family  from  the 
claws  of  Mme.  Valerie  Crevel.  From  1834  he  was  the  owner 
of  a  house  on  the  Rue  Louis-le-Grand  \  seven  or  eight  years 
later  Victorin  there  received  nearly  all  the  Hulots  and  their 
married  relations;  but  he  would  not  recognize  his  father's 
second  marriage  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDjD — Cousin 
Betty,  w\. 

Hulot,  Madame  Victorin,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born 
Celestine  Crevel  ;  her  marriage  was  the  result  of  a  meeting 
between  her  father  and  father-in-law,  two  libertines.  She 
took  part  in  the  discussions  of  the  two  families,  and  replaced 
Lisbeth  Fischer  by  caring  for  the  household  on  the  Rue  Louis-. 
le-Grand,  and  without  doubt  saw  the  death  of  the  second  Mme. 
Celestin  Crevel,  who  died  about  the  same  time  as  the  former 
perfumer  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Hulot,  Hortense.     See  Steinbock,  Comtesse  Wenceslas. 

Hulot  d'Ervy,  Baronne  Hector,  nee  Agathe  Pique- 
tard,  of  Isigny,  where  she  became  the  second  wife  of  Baron 
Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy.  On  her. first  entrance  into  Paris  she 
became  a  kitchen-maid  in  the  Hulots'  household,  about  De- 
cember, 1845  J  she  was  married  to  her  old  master,  then  a 
widower,  February  i,  1846  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Humann,  the  celebrated  Parisian  tailor,  who,  in  1836  and 
following  years,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  students  Rabourdin 
^and  Juste,  clothed  "a  man  of  politics,"  Z.  Marcas,  who  was 
without  resources  [Z.  Marcas,  7ri\. 

Hure,  a  native  of  Mortagne,  was,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Restoration,  in  the  office  of  the  Parisian  Maitre  Derville,  the 
attorney.  Rue  Vivienne,  when  he  saw  Hyacinthe-Chabert 
[Colonel  Chabert,  i]. 

Husson,  Madame.     See  Clapart,  Madame. 

Husson,  Oscar,  born  about  1804,  son  of  the  foregoing 
and  M.  Husson,  army  contractor ;  he  led  a  life  full  of  hard 


278  COMPENDIUM 

knocks,  explained  by  his  origin  and  his  childishness.  The 
fall  of  Napoleon  determined  the  ruin  of  the  Hussons ;  Mme. 
Husson  had  been  a  woman  of  the  bedchamber  to  Madame 
Mere  (Loetitia  Bonaparte).  Oscar  and  his  mother,  now  mar- 
ried to  M.  Clapart,  lived  in  a  modest  place  on  the  Rue  de  la 
Cerisaie,  Paris.  By  the  blunders  of  the  vain,  spoiled  child 
while  on  his  way  to  the  Comte  de  Serizy's  castle,  not  far  from 
risle-Adam,  he  received  a  severe  admonition  from  his  quasi- 
godfather,  M.  Moreau.  Obtaining  his  license,  Oscar  Husson 
became  a  clerk  to  Maitre  Desroches  and  fashioned  himself 
after  Godeschal.  During  this  time  Husson  came  across  two 
young  men,  the  Marests,  cousins.  Already  one  of  them  had 
drawn  him  into  a  foolish  escapade,  but  this  time  their  friend- 
ship resulted  in  a  more  serious  affair,  on  the  Rue.Vendome,* 
at  Florentine  Cabirolle's  place,  who  was  under  the  protection 
of  and  kept  by  the  wealthy  Cardot.  Husson  through  this 
abandoned  clerical  work  and  took  to  a  military  life.  He  was 
in  the  regiment  of  cavalry  commanded  by  the  Due  de  Mau- 
frigneuse  and  Vicomte  de  Serizy.  The  intervention  of  the 
dauphine  and  Abb6  Gaudron  procured  him  advancement  and 
the  decoration.  We  successively  see  Oscar  as  aide-de-camp 
to  La  Fayette,  captain,  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  a 
lieutenant-colonel.  One  brilliant  act  is  illustrated  that  took 
place  in  Algerian  territory  during  the  Macta  affair :  Husson 
lost  his  left  arm  in  vainly  striving  to  save  Vicomte  de  Serizy. 
On  his  retirement  he  obtained  the  position  as  collector  at 
Beaumont-sur-Oise.  He  there  married,  1838,  Georgette  Pier- 
rotin  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Husson,  Madame  Oscar,  wife  of  the  preceding;  nee 
Georgette  Pierrotin  ;  daughter  of  the  owner  of  the  Oise 
diligence  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Hyacinthe,  the  only  real  name  of  Colonel  Chabert. 

Hyacinthe,  Monseigneur.     See  H.  Troubert,  Abbe. 

Hyde   de   Neuville,    Jean-Guillaume,   Baron — 1776- 

*  Now  the  Rue  B6ranger. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  279 

1857  (?) — who  was  in  the  Martignac  ministry,  in  1828,  was,  in 
1797,  one  of  the  most  active  agents  for  the  Bourbon  princes. 
He  took  part  in  the  civil  war  of  the  West  in  1799  and  had  a 
conference  with  the  First  Consul,  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  on 
the  question  of  the  reestablishing  of  Louis  XVIII.  [The 
Chouans,  jB]. 


Idamore,  the  nom  de  guerre  of  Chardin  junior,  who  be- 
came a  claquer  in  a  theatre  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple, 
Paris  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Isemburg,  Marechal,  Due  d',  was  probably  of  the  Im- 
perial nobility;  in  November,  1809,  he  lost  at  play,  at  a 
grand  fSte  given  in  Paris  by  Senator  Malin  de  Gondreville, 
at  the  same  affair  that  the  Duchesse  de  Lansac  effected  the 
reconciliation  of  a  young  household  [The  Peace  of  the 
House,  j\  ^ 


Jacmin,  Philoxeme,  of  Honfleur,  perhaps  cousin  of  Jean 

Butscha;  chambermaid  to  Eleonore  de  Chaulieu ;  she  loved 
Germain  Bonnet,  Melchior  de  Canalis'  valet  [Modeste  Mig- 
non,  'K\ 

Jacome'ty,  head  warden  of  the  Conciergerie,  Paris,  May, 
1830,  during  the  incarceration  therein  of  L.  C.  Rubempr6 
[Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\. 

Jacquelin,  born  in  Normandy,  about  1776,  was  in  1816 
in  the  service  of  Mile.  Cormon,  an  old  maid  at  Alengon.  He 
married  at  the  time  when  she  wedded  M.  du  Bousquier. 
After  this  double  event  Jacquelin  remained  for  some  time 
in  the  service  of  the  niece  of  Abbe  de  Sponde  [The  Old 
Maid,  a€C\. 

Jacques,  for  a  long  time  valet  to  Claire  de  Beauseant,  at 


280  COMPENDIUM 

Bayeux.  Essentially  *^  aristocratic,  intelligent,  and  discreet," 
he  understood  his  mistress'  sufferings  [Father  Goriot,  6r — ^A 
Forsaken  Woman,  li\. 

Jacquet,  Claude-Joseph,  an  honest  bourgeois,  under  the 
Restoration  ;  married  and  the  father  of  a  family  \  afflicted 
with  certain  manias.  Jacquet  filled  the  functions  of  deputy 
mayor  in  one  of  the  arrondissements,  Paris,  and  added  to  that 
the  post  of  keeper  of  the  records  to  the  minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  He  often  called  upon  his  friend  Jules  Desmarets. 
About  1820  he  deciphered  a  mysterious  and  complicated  letter 
from  Gatien  Bourignard.  When  Clemence  Desmarets  died, 
M.  Jacquet  supported  the  stockbroker  at  Saint-Roch's  church 
and  in  Pere-Lachaise  cemetery  [Ferragus,  &&]. 

Jacquinaut,  in  1822,  a  petty  clerk  in  the  office  of  Maitre 
Derville,  the  attorney  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Jacquinot  would  have  been,  under  Louis-Philippe,  a  no- 
tary of  Paris  after  Maitre  Cardot  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\ ; 
but,  as  the  son-in-law  and  successor  of  Cardot  was  Berthier,  it 
seemed  improper. 

Jacquotte  at  one  time  served  a  cure,  afterward  she  entered 
Doctor  Benassis*  service  and  managed  his  household  with  a 
characteristic  but  despotic  care  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Jamouillot,  Madame,  seconded  Mme.  Fontaine  in  the 
divinations  of  that  famous  fortune-teller  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  Djy,  ^JE']. 

Jan,*  a  painter  who  worked  "for  fame."  About  1838,  at 
Paris,  on  the  Rue  du  Dauphin,  he  covered  the  floors  and 
decorated  the  bedroom  door  of  the  "little  house"  of  which 
Crevel  was  the  owner,  and  which  was  the  scene  of  the  dou- 
ble adultery  of  Valerie  Marneffe  and  Baron  Hulot  [Cousin 
Betty,  w']. 

Janssen,  shoemaker  to  the  opera,  in  1823 ;  he  furnished 

*  Perhaps  this  was  the  decorative  painter  Laurent-Jan,  the  creator  of 
*'  Misanthropic  sans  repentir,"  and  Balzac's  friend,  to  whom  he  dedicated 
the  drama  of  ♦'  Vautrin." 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  281 

Eleonore  and  Louise  de  Chaulieu  with  shoes  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\. 

Janvier,  a  priest  in  a  village  of  the  Isdre  in  1829,  "a  very 
Fenelon  reduced  to  the  proportions  of  a  cure"  ;  he  knew, 
understood,  and  assisted  Benassis  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Japhet,  Baron,  a  celebrated  chemist ;  he  submitted  the 
magic  skin  to  phtorique  (chloride  of  nitrogen)  acid  and  the 
action  of  the  Voltaic  pile,  together  with  the  chlorate  of  azote, 
for  Raphael  de  Valentin.  To  his  great  astonishment  the  scien- 
tist was  unable  to  effect  any  change  in  the  tissue  [The  Wild 
Ass'  Skin,  ^]. 

Jean,  a  servant  of  the  Piombos,  Paris ;  he  was  sent,  in  the 
summer  of  1815,  to  meet  their  daughter  at  her  study  [The 
Vendetta,  i\ 

Jean,  coachman  and  confidential  man  to  M.  de  Merret, 
Vendome,  in  181 6  [The  Great  Bretdche,  I — Another  Study 
of  Woman,  l\ 

Jean,  at  Paris  and  under  the  Empire,  a  footmi-^  of  the 
Marquise  de  Listomere  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Jean,  a  working  terrace-builder — perhaps  something  of  a 
gardener,  too.  About  November,  1819,  he  worked  for  Felix 
Grandet  in  the  meadows  on  the  banks,  of  the  Loire  \  he  cut 
down  a  number  of  poplars  and  planted  others  [Eugenie  Gran- 
det, M\ 

Jean,  one  of  the  Due  de  Grandlieu's  servants.  May,  1830 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  i^]. 

Jean,  one  of  the  guards  in  Pdre-Lachaise  cemetery,  1820- 
21 ;  he  led  Jules  Desmarets  and  C.  J.  Jacquet  the  way  to  the 
grave  of  Clemence  Bourignard*  in  which  she  had  been  re- 
cently buried  [Ferragus,  hh\  . 

Jean,  at  Paris,  1843,  ^  servant  of  Josepha  Mirah  when  she 
received  Adeline  Hulot  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

*In  1868,  at  Paris,  MM.  Ferdinand  Dugue  and  Peaucellier  presented 
a  drama  at  the  Galt6  in  which  Clemence  Bourignard-Desmarets  was  one 
of  the  principal  characters. 


282  COMPENDIUM 

Jean,  a  servant  of  Camusot  de  Marville,  Paris,  about  the 
time  when  Madeleine  Vinet  persecuted  Sylvain  Pons  [Cousin 
Pons,  Qc\, 

Jean,  a  coachman  to  the  minister  of  Finance,  1824,  at  the 
time  when  Athanase  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere,  the  chief  of  a 
division,  died  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Jean,  a  lay  brother  in  an  abbey  about  1791,  at  the  time 
when  he  was  given  asylum  by  Niseron,  cure  of  Blangy;  after 
he  left  he  went  to  Gregoire  Rigou ;  he  afterward  became  his 
factotum  [The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Jean,  a  gardener  of  Nucingen's,  Paris,  about  the  end  of 
the  Restoration  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y]. 

Jeannette,  in  1823,  a  young,  pretty,  and  piquant  servant- 
mistress  of  the  mayor  of  Soulanges,  Soudry  [The  Peasantry, 2^]. 

Jeannette,  born  in  1758;  the  Ragons'  cook,  in  Paris, 
Rue  du  Petit-Lion-Saint-Sulpice;*  she  particularly  distin- 
guished herself  at  the  Sunday  receptions  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Jeanrenaud,  Madame,  a  protestant,  widow  of  the  "  head 
man  on  the  salt  barges,"  by  whom  she  had  one  son.  She  was 
a  stout,  good  woman,  ugly,  and  common ;  she  recovered, 
under  the  Restoration,  a  fortune  that  had  been  ravished  from 
her  ancestors  by  the  Catholic  d'Espards,  and  restored  by  their 
descendant  in  spite  of  a  commission  in  lunacy  intended  to  avert 
it.  Mme.  Jeanrenaud  lived  successively  at  Villeparisis  and 
Paris;  in  the  latter  place  at  No.  8  Rue  de  la  Vrilliere,  and 
afterward  on  the  Rue  Vertef  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Jeanrenaud,  son  of  the  foregoing  ;  born  about  1792.  He 
served  as  an  officer  in  the  French  Imperial  Guard,  and,  by 
favor  of  Espard-Negripelisse,  became  in  1828  captain  of  a 
squad  of  the  first  regiment  of  cuirassiers  in  the  Royal  Guard. 
Charles  X.  created  him  baron.  Jeanrenaud  married  a  niece 
of  Mongenod's.     His  handsome  villa  on  Lake  Geneva  was 

*  Part  of  the  Rue  Saint- Sulpice,  and  situated  between  the  Rues  Cordd 
and  Seine. 

f  Now  called  the  Rue  de  Penthi^vre. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  283 

mentioned  in  "I'Ambitieux  par  amour,"  by  Albert  Sa varus, 
who  published  it  in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe  [The  Com- 
mission in  Lunacy,  c — Albert  Savaron,  f\ 

Jenny  was,  under  the  Restoration,  chambermaid  and  con- 
fidential servant  of  Aquilina  of  the  Guard  ;  afterward,  but  for 
a  very  short  time,  she  was  Castanier's  mistress  [Melmoth 
Reconciled,  cZ]. 

Jeremie,  a  servant  in  the  employ  of  Marie  de  Verneuil  at 
Fougeres  1799  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Jerome,  Father,  the  keeper  of  a  second-hand  book-stall 
on  Notre-Dame  bridge,  Paris,  1821,  at  the  time  of  the  novici- 
ate of  Chardon  de  Rubempre  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M\ 

Jerome,  successively  valet  of  Galard  and  of  Albert  Savarus, 
at  Besan^on.  He  perhaps  served  the  barrister  faithfully,  at 
Paris,  because  he  was  courting  Mariette,  a  servant  at  the 
Wattevilles,  or  at  least  her  dowry  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Johnson,  Samuel,  under  the  Restoration,  at  Paris,  was 
the  disguise  under  which  the  police-spy  Peyrade  played  the 
**  nabob,"  when  he  kept  Mme.  Theodore  Gaillard  and  had 
Contenson  as  his  mulatto  servant,  in  the  service  of  Nucingen 
and  against  Jacques  Collin  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z'\. 

Jolivard,  an  employe  in  the  recorder's  office.  Rue  de 
Normandie,  Paris,  about  the  close  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign 
[Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Jonathas,  Raphael  de  Valentin's  foster-father  and  valet 
of  Valentin's  father ;  he  was  later  the  young  man's  steward, 
who  became  a  multi-millionaire ;  he  served  him  faithfully  and 
survived  him  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  ^]. 

Jordy,  De,  in  succession  captain  of  the  Royal  Swedish 
regiment  and  professor  in  the  military  Ecole.  He  had  a  deli- 
cate heart  and  distinguished  mind  ;  the  type  of  a  gentleman, 
poor  but  resigned.  His  soul  ought  to  have  been  the  hearth 
of  secret  griefs.  Certain  indications  seemed  to  imply  that  he 
had  had  children  whom  he  worshiped  and  lost.     M.  de  Jordy, 


284  COMPENDIUM 

retired,  lived  modestly  at  Nemours.  He  was  the  equal  in 
character  and  intelligence  of  Denis  Minoret,  with  whom  he 
became  an  intimate  friend,  and  he  gave  a  like  affection  to  the 
doctor's  ward,  Mme.  Savinien  de  Portenduere,  whom  he  in- 
structed ;  he  also  left  her  an  income  of  four  thousand  francs 
when  he  died,  in  1823  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JBT]. 

Joseph,  with  Charles  and  Francois,  were  a  part  of  the 
personal  domestics  at  the  Aigues,  about  1823  [The  Peasan- 
try, M\ 

Joseph,  about  1831,  at  Paris,  in  the  service  of  Pauline 
Gaudin ;  he  became  rich  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A^. 

Joseph,  about  the  middle  of  the  Restoration,  an  old  valet 
of  the  Comte  de  Fontaine's  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  ii\. 

Joseph,  the  faithful  servant  of  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  under 
the  Restoration,  at  Paris.  In  1828  he  took  a  letter  written 
by  his  master  to  the  Marquise  de  Listomere  that  was  intended 
for  Mme.  de  Nucingen  ;  this  error  of  Joseph's  caused  the 
marquise  much  vexation  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A. — A  Study 
of  Woman,  cC\. 

Joseph,  at  Paris,  on  the  Chaussee-d'Antin,  in  the  service 
of  Ferdinand  du  Tillet ;  he  proudly  received  Cesar  Birot- 
teau  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Joseph,  the  name  of  an  honest  bricklayer.  Rue  Saint- 
Lazare,  Paris,  about  the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  Of 
Italian  origin,  married,  father  of  a  family ;  he  was  saved  from 
bankruptcy  by  Adeline  Hulot,  who  acted  on  behalf  of  Mme. 
de  la  Chanterie ;  Joseph  was  an  acquaintance  of  the  public- 
writer  Vyder,  to  whom  Mme.  Hulot  came  and  who  found  in 
him  her  husband,  Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Josepha.     See  Mirah,  Josepha. 

Josephin,  an  old  valet  of  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon:  ''A 
sort  of  Maitre  Chesnel  in  livery"  [The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, aa\. 

Josephine,  chambermaid  to  Mme.  Jules  Desmarets,  Paris, 
1820,  Rue  Menars  [Ferragus,  &&]. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  285 

Josephine,  a  servant  at  the  Thuilliers,  Paris,  1840  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Josette,  a  cook  in  the  household  of  Balthazar  Claes, 
Douai;  very  much  attached  to  Mesdames  Josephine,  Mar- 
guerite, and  Felicite  Claes.  She  died  about  the  end  of  the 
Restoration  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  2>]. 

Josette,  old  housekeeper  of  Maitre  Mathias,  Bordeaux, 
under  the  Restoration  ;  she  accompanied  her  master  when  he 
went  to  see  the  embarkation  of  Paul  de  Manerville  [A  Mar- 
riage Settlement,  aa]. 

Josette,  181 6,  and  without  doubt  anterior  to  that  year, 
chambermaid  to  Victoire-Rose  Cormon,  Alengon.  She  mar- 
ried Jacquelin  when  their  mistress  became  Mme.  du  Bousquier 
[The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Josette,  chambermaid  to  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse,  May, 
1830  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\. 

Judici,  Atala;  born  about  1829,  of  Lombardian  origin; 
she  had  a  paternal  grandfather,  a  rich  Parisian  bricklayer, 
under  the  first  Empire;  M.  Joseph's  employer  died  in  1819. 
Mile.  Judici  never  came  near  that  fortune ;  it  was  dissipated 
by  her  father  during  the  course  of  the  year  1844;  she  was 
delivered,  she  said,  by  her  mother  to  Hector  Hulot  for  fifteen 
thousand  francs.  Then  she  left  her  family,  who  lived  on  the 
Rue  de  Charonne,  and  lived  in  marital  relations  with  her 
purchaser  and  keeper,  who  became  a  public-writer  on  the 
Passage  du  Soliel — now  the  Galerie  de  Cherbourg.  The  pretty 
Atala  was  compelled  to  leave  Hulot  when  Adeline  found  him. 
Mme.  Hulot  promised  her  a  dowry  to  enable  her  to  marry 
Joseph's  eldest  son.  At  Paris  Mile.  Judici  was  sometimes 
called  Judix,  a  French  corruption  of  the  Italian  name  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Judith.     See  Genestas,  Madame. 

Julia,  chambermaid  to  the  celebrated  operatic  singer, 
Clarina  Tinti,  1820,  Venice  [Massimilla  Doni,  jj^]. 

Julien,  one  of  the  ''guards"  in  the  Conciergerie,  1830, 


286  COMPENDIUM 

at  the  time  of  the  criminal  instruction  of  the  Herrera-Rubemprd 
case  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\ 

Julien  was,  in  1818-19,  valet  to  Antoinette  de  Langeais 
[The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  &6]. 

Julien,  probably  a  Champenois,  was  while  still  young,  in 
1839,  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  in  the  service  of  the  sub-prefect, 
Antonin  Goulard.  Through  Anicette  he  learned  the  secret 
intrigues  of  the  Legitimists  at  the  chateau  of  Cinq-Cygne, 
and  revealed  them  to  the  Beauvisage  and  Mollot  families.  At 
that  time  Georges  de  Maufrigneuse,  Daniel  d' Arthez,  Laurence 
de  Cinq-Cygne,  Diane  de  Cadignan,  and  Berthe  de  Maufrig- 
neuse were  residing  near  that  town  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis, 
DD\ 

Juliette,  an  old  cook  of  Justin  and  Olympe  Michaud, 
1823,  near  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

JuUiard  was,  at  Paris,  about  1806,  head  of  the  "  JuUiard 
firm,"  Rue  Saint-Denis,  at  the  **  Silkworm."  He  there  sold 
haberdashery  and  employed  Sylvie  Rogron  as  "second." 
Twenty  years  later  he  returned  to  his  native  Provins,  whither 
he  retired ;  he  was  married,  and  the  father  of  a  family  which, 
grouped  with  the  Guepins  and  Guenees,  formed  three  great 
races  [Pierrette,  i]. 

JuUiard,  the  eldest  son  of  the  preceding,  married  to 
the  only  daughter  of  a  rich  farmer  of  Provins,  platonically 
smitten  by  Melanie  Tiphaine,  the  handsomest  woman  in  the 
"official  colony,"  during  the  Restoration.  JuUiard  was  in 
both  trade  and  literature.  He  owned  a  diligence  route  and  a 
newspaper,  "  la  Ruche,"  in  which  he  flattered  Mme.  Tiphaine 
[Pierrette,  i\ 

Jussieu,  Julien,  a  young  master  of  the  requisition  in  the 
great  draft  of  troops  in  1793.  He  was  sent  with  a  billet  of 
domicile  to  the  house  of  Mme.  de  Dey,  at  Carentan ;  he  was 
the  innocent  cause  of  the  sudden  death  of  that  woman,  who 
was  that  same  day  anxiously  awaiting  the  return  of  her  son, 
a  Royalist  tracked  by  the  Republic  [The  Conscript,  6]. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  '2SSI 

Juste,  born  in  1811,  a  medical  student  at  Paris,  and,  his 
studies  completed,  a  practicing  physician  in  Asia.  In  1836 
he  lived  on  the  Rue  Corneille,  Paris,  where,  with  Charles 
Rabourdin.  he  assisted  Zephirin  Marcas  in  his  poverty  [Z. 
Marcas,  lfKl\- 

Justin,  Vidame  de  Pamier's  old  and  cunning  valet;  in 
1820  he  was  secretly  slain  by  order  of  Bourignard,  for  having 
discovered  the  real  name  of  Mme.  Jules  Desmarets'  father 
[Ferragus,  6&]. 

Justine  was,  at  Paris,  chambermaid  to  the  Comtesse 
Foedora,  when  her  mistress  received  M.  de  Valentin  [The 
Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 


Katt,  a  Fleming,  Lydie  de  la  Peyrade's  nurse ;  she  hardly 
ever  left  her  side.  She  served  her  in  Paris  on  the  Rue  des 
Moineaux,*  about  1829.  In  the  year  1840  she  still  looked 
after  her,  now  become  crazy,  on  the  Rue  Honore-Chevalier 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  F,  Z— The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Keller,  Francois,  was  one  of  the  greatest  and  richest 
bankers  in  Paris,  during  a  period  of  years  extending  possibly 
from  1809  to  1839.  He  was  one  of  those  who  figured  in 
November,  1809,  under  the  Empire,  in  the  great  fete  given 
by  Malin  de  Gondreville;  he  there  met  Isemberg,  Mont- 
cornet,  and  Mesdames  de  Lansac  and  Vaudemont ;  it  was  a 
social  intermingling  of  the  old  aristocracy  and  illustrious  im- 
perialists. Indeed  at  this  time  Francois  Keller  formed  a  part 
of  Malin  de  Gondreville's  family,  for  he  had  married  one  of 
the  daughters.  This  marriage  made  him  the  brother-in-law 
of  the  Marechale  de  Carigliano,  and  at  the  same  time  assured 
his  election  as  a  deputy,  which  he  became  in  181 6,  and  so 
*  The  construction  of  the  Avenue  de  1' Opera  caused  the  demolition  of 
this  street. 


288  COMPENDIUM 

remained  until  1836.  The  electors  of  Arcis-sur-Aube  arron- 
dissement  kept  him  in  his  seat  during  that  long  period. 
Frangois  Keller  had,  by  his  marriage  with  Mile,  de  Gondre- 
ville,  one  son,  Charles,  who  was  slain  in  the  spring  of  1839. 
As  a  deputy  Francois  Keller  became  one  of  the  most  noted 
orators  of  the  Left  Centre.  He  shone  in  the  Opposition, 
from  1819  to  1825.  He  cunningly  cloaked  himself  in  philan- 
thropy. Politics  never  lured  him  away  from  financial  affairs. 
On  the  Rue  du  Houssay,*  about  1819,  while  Decazes  awaited 
Francois  Keller,  seconded  by  his  brother  and  partner  Adolphe 
Keller,  he  refused  to  aid  the  unfortunate  perfumer,  Cesar 
Birotteau.  Between  the  years  1821  and  1823  the  banker 
Guillaume  Grandet's  creditors  unanimously  designated  this 
firm — together  with  M.  des  Grassins — as  the  liquidators  of 
that  failure.  The  private  life  of  Keller  was  far  from  irre- 
proachable, although  he  affected  puritanism.  In  1825  we 
become  aware  of  an  illegitimate  and  costly  liaison  with  Flavie 
Colleville.  Rallying  to  the  new  monarchy  of  1830-36, 
Francois  Keller  saw  his  zeal  rewarded  about  1839,  when  he 
entered  the  peerage  and  was  made  a  count  [The  Peace  of  the 
House,  j — Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Eugenie  Grandet,  M — Les 
Employes,  CC— The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DT),  'E'E'\. 

Keller,  Madame  Francois,  wife  of  the  preceding,  daugh- 
ter of  Malin  de  Gondreville ;  mother  of  Charles  Keller,  who 
died  in  1839.  She  inspired,  under  the  Restoration,  a  deep 
passion  in  the  son  of  the  Duchesse  de  Marigny  [The  Peace  of 
the  House,  j — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Diy — The  Duchess  of 
Langeais,  hh\ 

Keller,  Charles,  born  in  1809,  son  of  the  two  precedents, 
grandson  of  the  Comte  de  Gondreville,  nephew  of  the  Mar6- 
chale  de  Carigliano;  in  1839  his  life,  which  opened  so  auspici- 
ously, was  suddenly  cut  short.  As  the  major  of  a  squad,  when 
by  the  side  of  the  prince  royal  (Ferdinand  d'Orleans),  he  took 
*  Really  a  portion  of  the  Rue  Taitbout  between  the  Rues  Provence  and 
Victoire. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  289 

part  in  the  Kabylie;  he  intrepidly  pursued  Abd-el-Kader  and 
met  his  death  at  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  He  was  a  viscount 
by  the  recent  ennobling  of  his  father,  and  was  assured  of  the 
favor  of  the  heir-presumptive  to  the  throne.  At  the  time  when 
death  surprised  him  he  had  been  nominated  for  a  seat  in  the 
lower  chamber,  for  the  electors  of  Arcis-sur-Aube  intended 
him  to  represent  them  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)iy\. 

Keller,  Adolphe,  the  brother — probably  younger — of 
Francois  his  partner ;  a  very  fine  man,  well-trained  in  busi- 
ness habits,  *'a  real  lynx."  On  account  of  the  close  business 
relations  existing  between  Nucingen  and  F.  du  Tillet,  he,  in 
1 819,  refused  his  aid  to  Cesar  Birotteau,  who  had  implored 
assistance  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee — Pierrette,  i — Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O]. 

Kergarouet,  Comte  de,  born  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  of  Breton  nobility ;  he  entered  the  navy 
and  was  for  a  long  time  at  sea  in  command  of  la  Belle-Poule, 
ending  as  vice-admiral.  He  possessed  a  great  fortune  and  by 
his  charities  redeemed  the  '*  black  "  gallantries  of  the  years  of 
his  youth,  from  1771  on.  At  Paris,  near  the  Madeleine, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  he  very  deli- 
cately assisted  the  Baronne  Leseigneur  de  Rouville.  Shortly 
after  this,  a  widower  of  long  date  and  retired,  he  was  a 
frequenter  of  his  relatives  who  resided  near  Sceaux — the 
Fontaines  and  the  Planats  de  Baudry.  Kergarouet,  when 
seventy-one  years  old,  married  his  niece,  one  of  Fontaine's 
daughters.  He  died  before  her.  M.  de  Kergarouet  was  also 
a  relative  of  the  Portendueres,  and  did  not  forget  it  [The 
Purse,  p — The  Sceaux  Ball,  u — Ursule  Mirouet,  JH"]. 

Kergarouet,  Comtesse  de.  See  Vandenesse,  Marquise 
Charles  de. 

Kergarouet,  Vicomte  de,  nephew  of  the  count ;  the  hus- 
band of  a  Pen-Hoel,  by  whom  he  had  four  daughters.  He 
lived  at  Nantes,  in  1836  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Kergarouet,  Vicomtesse  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
19 


290  COMPENDIUM 

Pen-Hoel,  in  1 789  ;  younger  sister  of  Jacqueline  ;  mother  of 
four  daughters ;  a  pretentious  woman  reckoned  up  by  Mes- 
dames  Felicite  des  Touches  and  Arthur  de  Rochefide.  She 
lived  at  Nantes,  1836  [Beatrix,  J^]. 

Kergarouet,  Charlotte  de,  born  in  1821,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  two  foregoing ;  grand-niece  of  the  Comte  de 
Kergarouet ;  the  favorite  of  the  four  nieces  of  the  wealthy 
Jacqueline  de  Pen-Hoel ;  of  a  fine  character,  but  petty  and 
provincial ;  in  1836  she  was  smitten  with  Calyste  de  Guenic, 
but  she  did  not  marry  him  [Beatrix,  J^]. 

Kolb,  an  Alsacian,  was  the  "all-round"  man  at  the 
Didots,  Paris ;  he  had  served  in  the  cuirassiers.  Under  the 
Restoration  he  became  the  *'bear"  or  pressman  for  David 
Sechard,  the  printer,  at  Angoul§me,  to  whom  he  was  always 
devoted;  he  married  Sechard' s  servant  Marion  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, JS'\ 

Kolb,  Marion,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  whom  she  first  met 
and  came  to  know  at  David  Sechard 's.  At  first  she  was  in 
the  service  of  Jerome-Nicolas  Sechard,  the  former  printer  at 
Angouldme.  Marion  Kolb,  like  her  husband,  had  a  full  and 
simple  devotion  for  David  [Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Kouski,  a  Pole,  a  lancer  in  the  French  Imperial  Guard ; 
he  led  a  very  wretched  life  for  the  two  years,  181 5-1 6,  but  knew 
better  days  in  181 7.  He  then  lived  at  Issoudun,  where  he 
served  the  wealthy  Jean-Jacques  Rouget  as  a  house-servant ; 
he  was  of  service  to  Major  Maxence  Gilet,  who  became  Kouski's 
idol  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Kropoli,  Zena,  of  Montenegro ;  in  1809  she  was  seduced 
by  the  French  artilleryman,  August  Niseron,  by  whom  she 
had  a  daughter,  Genevieve  [The  Peasantry,  M\. 


Lra  Bastie^  M.,  Madame,  and  Mademoiselle  de.     See 
the  Mignons. 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  291 

La  Bastie  la  Briere,  Ernest  de,  born  of  a  good  family 
of  Toulouse  in  1802  ;  the  living  picture  of  Louis  XIII. ;  from 
1824  to  1829  the  private  secretary  to  the  minister  of  Finance. 
By  the  advice  of  Mme.  d'Espard,  and  to  serve  Eleonore  de 
Chaulieu,  he  became  secretary  to  Melchior  de  Canalis,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  referendary  in  the  court  of  accounts.  A 
chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  In  1829,  on  behalf  of 
Canalis,  he  conducted  an  amorous  epistolary  romance,  the 
heroine  of  which  was  Marie-Modeste  Mignon,  of  1' Havre, 
and  played  with  great  effect  his  part  in  a  reciprocal  passion 
which  should  result  in  wedded  bliss.  They  were  married, 
and  he  was  rich  and  became  the  Vicomte  de  la  Bastie  la 
Briere;  this  event  occurred  in  February,  1830.  Canalis  and 
the  minister  of  1824  were  the  witnesses  of  Ernest  de  la  Bridre's 
marriage  ;  he  merited  a  full  measure  of  happiness  [Les  Em- 
ployes, CC — Modeste  Mignon,  ^]. 

La  Bastie  la  Briere,  Madame  Ernest*  de,  wife  of  the 
foregoing,  nee  Marie-Modeste  Mignon,  about  1809,  youngest 
daughter  of  Charles  and  Bettina  {nee  Wallenrod)  de  la  Bastie. 
In  1829,  at  r Havre,  where  she  lived  with  her  family,  and 
through  the  love  literature  that  Bettina  Bretano  d'Arnim 
learned  from  Goethe,  she  fell  in  love  with  Canalis ;  she  fre- 
quently, though  secretly,  wrote  the  poet,  who,  for  his  part, 
responded  by  and  through  Ernest  de  la  Briere ;  he  knew 
nothing  of  the  correspondence  between  his  secretary  and  the 
young  girl,  or  of  the  reciprocal  inclination  for  each  other, 
which  ended  in  their  marriage.  Modeste  Mignon's  witnesses 
were  the  Due  d'Herouville  and  Doctor  Desplein.  She  became 
one  of  the  most  envied  Parisians  [Modeste  Mignon,  JST — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>Z> — Cousin  Betty,  w\  Note  :  La  Bastie 
is  sometimes  written  La  Batie. 

La  Baudraye,*  Jean  Athanase-Polydore  Milaud  de, 
Berrichon,  born  in  1780,  descended  from  the  simple  Milauds 

*  The  device  on  the  blazon  of  La  Baudraye  was :  Deo  patet  sic  fides  <t 
homnibus. 


292  COMPENDIUM 

and  ennobled.  M.  de  la  Baudraye's  father  was  a  financier  of 
gallant  spirit ;  his  mother  was  a  Cast^ran  la  Tour.  He  had  a 
freckled  face  and  a  sickly  constitution,  the  heritage  of  his 
father's  vicious  life.  After  the  death  of  his  father  he  found 
that  he  was  bequeathed  a  large  quantity  of  acceptances,  signed 
by  some  of  the  best  names  of  the  emigrant  aristocracy.  Poly- 
dore  de  la  Baudraye  was  very  avaricious,  and  he  busied  him- 
self in  recovering  some  of  this  money,  under  the  Restoration. 
He  made  frequent  journeys  to  Paris ;  at  the  hotel  de  Saxe,* 
Rue  Saint-Honore,  he  negotiated  with  Clement  Chardin  des 
Lupeaulx ;  from  him  he  obtained  in  succession  the  following 
positions,  two  of  which  he  sold  at  a  good  price :  referendary 
under  the  seals,  baron,  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
and  master  of  requests.  He  was  also  given  the  post  of  tax- 
collector  of  Sancerre;  this  he  sold  to  Gravier.  M.  de  la 
Baudraye,  did  not  leave  Sancerre.  About  1823  he  married 
Mile.  Dinah  Pitdefer;  he  became  a  large  landed  proprietor, 
and  acquired  the  domain  of  Anzy;  this  came  to  him  by  a 
compact  he  made  with  his  wife — having  threatened  her  that 
he  would  take  away  from  her  an  adulterous  child — by  which 
he  secured  her  signature,  making  him  the  possessor  of  the 
property  left  by  Silas  Piedefer,  who  had  gone  to  America  poor 
and  returned  wealthy,  1836-42.  He  owned  a  superb  mansion 
on  the  Rue  de  I'Arcade,  Paris.  He  reconquered  his  wife, 
who  had  deserted  him,  and  installed  her  therein.  He  was 
promoted  count,  commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  a 
peer  of  France.  Frederic  de  Nucingen  received  him  in  Paris, 
when  the  death  of  Ferdinand  d'Orleans,  in  the  summer  of 
1842,  necessitated  the  presence  of  M.  de  la  Baudraye  at  the 
Luxembourg  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

La  Baudraye,  Madame  Polydore  Milaud  de,  wife  of 
the  foregoing,  nee  Dinah  Piedefer  in  1807  or  1808;  daughter 

*  It  was  not  at  the  hotel  de  Saxe,  hut  the  h6tel  de  Mayence,  which 
descended  to  Polydore  Milaud  de  la  Baudraye,  and  in  which  he  negotiated 
his  business  in  Paris, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  293 

of  the  Calvinist  MoYse  Piedefer,  she  became  wealthy,  being 
his  heiress.  She  received  a  splendid  education  at  the  Chama- 
rolles'  boarding-school  for  ladies,  at  Bourges ;  her  companion 
there  was  Anna  Grossetdte,  afterward  Anna  de  Fontaine, 
1819.  Five  years  later,  incited  by  ambition,  she  abjured 
protestantism  to  receive  a  welcome  from  the  cardinal  arch- 
bishop of  Bourges;  she  married,  about  1823,  a  short  time 
after  her  conversion.  During  a  term  of  more  than  three  con- 
secutive years,  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  seemed  enthroned  as  the 
queen  of  the  town  of  Sancerre  and  vicinity — her  country  house 
being  the  chateau  d'Anzy,  Saint-Satur.  She  was  surrounded 
by  a  court  composed  of  Abbe  Duret  and  MM.  de  Clagny, 
Gravier,  and  Gatien  Boirouge.  Clagny  and  Duret  alone 
comprehended  the  literary  essays  of  Jan  Diaz,  Mme.-  de  la 
Baudraye's  pseudonym;  they  went  to  purchase  the  Rougets' 
furniture  at  Issoudun,  and  were  also  called  upon  by  and  en- 
tertained in  turn  the  two  ** Parisians  of  Sancerre,"  Horace 
Bianchon  and  Etienne  Lousteau,  September,  1836.  An  adul- 
terous intrigue  followed  between  Lousteau  and  Mme.  de  la 
Baudraye,  through  which  the  latter  went  to  reside  in  Paris, 
on  the  Rue  des  Martyrs,  1837-39.  By  this  illicit  union  she 
had  two  sons,  both  of  whom  were  later  acknowledged  by  M. 
de  la  Baudraye.  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  was  able  to  assist  the 
tired  faculties  of  her  lover;  she  rewrote  "A  Prince  of  Bohe- 
mia," taken  from  an  anecdote  related  by  Raoul  Nathan,  and 
she  probably  published  that  novel.  The  fear  of  everlasting 
scandal  caused  her  to  obey  her  conjugal  and  maternal  duties ; 
the  leaving  of  Lousteau  and  the  resuming  of  her  position  as 
Dinah  de  la  Baudraye  caused  her  return  to  her  husband,  who 
resided  in  a  splendid  mansion  on  the  Rue  de  TArcade.  This 
return,  dating  from  May,  1842,  astonished  Mme.  d'Espard. 
All  Paris  in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe  often  cited  Dinah  de 
la  Baudraye  as  occupying  a  position  which  was  seldom  re- 
gained. During  the  same  year,  1842,  she  assisted  at  the  first 
representation  of  'Ma  Main  droite  et  la  Main  gauche,"  a  drama 


294  COMPENDIUM 

by  Leon  Gozlan,  played  at  the  Odeon  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC—^^  Prince  of  Bohemia,  ^^— Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

La  Berge,  De,  Mme.  de  Mortsauf 's  confessor  at  Cloche- 
gourde;  strict,  severe,  and  virtuous.  He  died  in  1817,  re- 
gretted for  "his  apostolic  power,"  by  his  penitent,  who 
accepted  as  his  successor  the  gentle  Frangois  Birotteau  [The 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

La  Bertelliere,  father  of  Mme.  la  Gaudiniere,  grand- 
father of  Mme.  Felix  Grandet ;  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  French 
Guards;  died  in  1806,  leaving  an  important  succession.  He 
** called  an  investment  throwing  money  away."  Twenty 
years  later  his  portrait  still  ornamented  the  Felix  Grandets* 
*'  hall,"  at  Saumur  [Eugenie  Grandet,  'E\ 

La  Billardiere,  Athanase-Jean-Francois-Michel,  Baron 
Flamet  de,  son  of  a  councilor  of  the  Brittany  parlement ;  was 
mixed  up  in  the  wars  in  Vendee ;  he  became  a  chief  under  the 
name  of  Nantais,  and,  as  an  abitrator,  played  a  most  singular 
part  to  Quiberon.  The  Restoration  recompensed  the  services 
of  this  person  of  the  petty  nobility,  of  very  mediocre  in- 
telligence and  of  a  Catholicism  more  indifferent  than  his 
Monarchism.  He  became  mayor  of  the  second  arrondisse- 
ment  of  Paris  and  chief  of  a  division  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance, 
thanks  to  his  relationship  with  a  deputy  of  the  Right.  He 
figured  among  those  invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  his 
deputy,  Cesar  Birotteau,  whom  he  had  known  for  twenty 
years.  At  his  death,  in  December,  1824,  he  vainly  designated 
as  his  successor  as  chief  of  a  division,  Xavier  Rabourdin,  the 
real  manager  of  the  one  of  which  la  Billardiere  was  the  titled 
head.  The  newspapers  published  autobiographical  articles 
on  the  deceased.  The  official  announcement,  due  to  the 
collaboration  of  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx,  J.  J.  Bixiou,  and  F. 
du  Bruel,  enumerated  the  numerous  titles  and  decorations  of 
Flamet  de  la  Billardiere — a  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber, 
etc.,  etc.  [The  Chouans,  B — Cesar  Birotteau,  O— Les  Em- 
ployes, cc]. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  295 

La  Billardiere,  Benjamin,  Chevalier  de,  son  of  the 
foregoing,  born  in  1802.  He  frequented  the  young  Vicomte 
de  Portendu^re's,  in  1824,  at  the  time  when  he  was  a  wealthy- 
supernumerary  in  Isidore  Baudoyer's  office,  which  formed  a 
part  of  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere's  division.  His  impertinence 
and  fatuity  caused  a  lack  of  regret  when  he  left  the  financial 
department  for  that  of  the  seals,  about  the  end  of  the  same 
year,  1824,  the  date  of  the  death  of  the  little  deplored  Baron 
de  la  Billardiere  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Lra  Blottiere,  Mademoiselle  Merlin  de,  under  the 
Restoration,  a  kind  of  dowager  canoness  at  Tours;  with 
Mesdames  Pauline  Salomon  de  Villenoix  and  de  Listomere, 
she  defended,  received,  and  welcomed  Francois  Birotteau 
[The  Abbe  Birotteau,  i]. 

Labranchoir,  Comte  de,  a  land-owner  in  the  Dauphine, 
under  the  Restoration ;  a  victim,  as  were  many  others,  of  the 
depredations  of  the  poacher  Butifer  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

La  Briere,  Ernest  de.  See  La  Bastie  la  Briere,  Ernest 
de. 

La  Briere,  Madame  Ernest  de.  See  La  Bastie  la  Briere, 
Madame  Ernest  de. 

Lacepede,  Comte  de,  a  celebrated  naturalist,  born  at 
Agen,  1756  ;  died  at  Paris  in  1825.  Grand  chancellor  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  during  a  number  of  years  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  nineteenth  century.  This  illustrious  scientist  was 
invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December 
17,  1818  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]- 

La  Chanterie,  Le  Chantre  de,  of  a  fallen  Norman 
family,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  its  date  of 
origin  was  lost  in  obscurity,  although  it  was  known  to  date 
from  the  crusade  of  Philippe- Auguste ;  he  owned  a  petty  fief 
between  Caen  and  Saint-L6.  M.  le  Chantre  de  la  Chan- 
terie amassed  about  three  hundred  thousand  crowns  with 
which  to  furnish  the  King's  armies  durinsr  the  Hanoverian 


296  COMPENDIUM 

war.  He  died  under  the  Revolution,  but  before  the  Terror 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

La  Chanterie,  Baron  Henri  Le  Chantre  de,  born  in 
1 763,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  beautiful,  smart,  seductive.  Master 
of  requests  to  the  Great  Council,  in  1788  ;  he  married  Mile. 
Barbe-Philiberte  de  Champignelles,  in  the  same  year.  Ruined 
under  the  Restoration  by  the  loss  of  his  position  and  the  ex- 
penditure of  his  paternal  fortune,  Henri  Le  Chantre  de  la 
Chanterie  became  one  of  the  most  ferocious  presidents  of  the 
Revolutionary  tribunal  and  was  the  terror  of  Normandy.  Im- 
prisoned after  Thermidor  9th,  he  was  liberated  by  his  wife, 
by  the  exchange  of  their  clothing,  and  he  did  not  see  her 
again  more  than  three  times  in  eight  years,  the  last  time  being 
in  1802.  The  baron  became  a  bigamist;  he  returned  to  his 
wife,  but  shortly  afterward  died  of  a  loathsome  disease,  of  a 
consequence  leaving  two  equally  ruined  widows;  this  was 
only  made  known  about  1804  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T]. 

La  Chanterie,  Baronne  Henri  Le  Chantre  de  la,  wife 
of  the  foregoing,  nee  Barbe-Philiberte  de  Champignelles 
in  1772  ;  the  issue  of  one  of  the  first  families  of  Lower  Nor- 
mandy. Married  in  1 788,  fourteen  years  later  she  received  the 
dying,  bigamous  man,  who  was  pursued  by  justice ;  the  one 
who  had  given  her  his  name  and  by  whom  she  had  a  daughter, 
Henriette,  who  was  executed  about  1809,  for  having  been 
connected  with  the  insurrection  of  the  Chauffeurs,  in  the  Orne. 
Unjustly  compromised  she  was  nevertheless  imprisoned  in  the 
horrible  Bicdtre  of  Rouen ;  there  the  baroness  became  a 
moralist  on  the  lives  of  bad  women  and  threw  herself  in  the 
midst  of  them  for  the  bettering  of  their  condition.  The 
fall  of  the  Empire  set  her  free.  Twenty  years  later,  as  the 
co-owner  of  a  house  at  the  rear  of  Notre-Dame,  Rue  Chanoi- 
nesse,  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie  accepted  and  *' formed"  Gode- 
froid.  She  then  exercised  a  generous  and  charitable  private 
mission,  with  the  cooperation  of  Manon  Godard  and  MM.  de 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  297 

Veze,  de  Montauran,  Mongenod,  and  Alain.  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie  knew  the  Bourlacs  and  the  Mergis,  a  family  of 
judges  who  became  poor  and  who  had  persecuted  her  in  1809. 
Her  charitable  works  were  very  extensive.  The  baroness 
directed,  in  1843,  ^  charitable  society  which  aimed  at  the 
consecration  bpth  civilly  and  religiously  of  the  union  of  non- 
married  couples.  She  sent  Adeline  Hulot  d'Ervy  to  the  Pas- 
sage du  Soleil  to  try  to  have  Vyder  married  to  his  courtesan, 
Atala  Judici — Vyder  was  Adeline's  husband,  Hector  Hulot 
d'Ervy  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T— Cousin  Betty,  w\ 
The  Revolution  having  suppressed  all  titles,  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie  was  called  Madame — or  citizeness — Lechant  re. 

Lachapelle  served,  in  1819,  at  Mme.  Vauquer's  house, 
Paris,  the  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Jacques  Collin  [Father 
Goriot,  6r]. 

Lacroix,  a  restaurateur,  in  1822,  Place  du  Marche,  Issou- 
dun,  at  whose  place  the  Bonapartist  officers  banqueted  on  the 
crowning  of  the  Emperor.  December  2d  of  the  same  year 
Philippe  Bridau  and  Maxence  fought  a  duel  after  the  repast 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «7]. 

Laferte,  Nicolas.     See  Cochegrue,  Jean. 

Lafin  de  Dieu,  according  to  Albert  Savarus  in  "  I'Am- 
bitieux  par  Amour,"  had  Claire  de  Beauseant  as  a  tenant,  in 
his  villa  on  Lake  Geneva,  between  1821  and  1824  [Albert 
Savaron,  /]. 

La  Garde,  Madame  de.     See  Aquilina. 

La  Gaudiniere,  Madame,  nte  La  Bertelliere;  the 
mother  of  Mme.  Felix  Grandet ;  very  miserly ;  she  died  in 
1806,  leaving  to  Felix  Grandet  a  succession  *' the  impor- 
tance of  which  was  unknown  to  any  one"  [Eugenie  Gran- 
det, E7]. 

Laginski,  Comte  Adam  Mitgislas,  a  rich  exile,  belonging 
to  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  illustrious  families  of  Poland, 
and  counting  among  his  relatives  the  Sapiehas,  the  Radziwills, 
the  Mniszechs,  the  Rezwuskis,  Czartoriskis,  Lecszinskis,  and 


298  COMPENDIUM 

Lubomirskis.  He  was  also  related  to  the  princely  houses  of 
Germany,  and  his  mother  had  been  a  Radziwill.  Plain,  but 
with  a  certain  air  of  distinction,  he  possessed  an  income  of 
eighty  thousand  francs,  and  shone  brilliantly  in  Paris  during 
Louis-Philippe's  reign.  On  the  Chaussee-d'Antin,  Rue  du 
Mont-Blanc,  after  the  Revolution  of  July,  and  while  still  a 
novice,  he  was  at  an  assembly  at  the  house  of  Felicite  des 
Touches,  and  there  listened  to  the  delightful  chat  of  Henri  de 
Marsay  and  Emile  Blondet.  From  inclination  Adam  Laginski 
married  Mile.  Clementine  du  Rouvre,  a  niece  of  the  Ronque- 
rolles,  during  the  fall  of  1835.  The  friendship  of  Paz,  whom 
he  had  taken  as  steward,  saved  him  from  being  ruined  by  a 
Creole  whom  he  kept.  He  lived  a  perfectly  happy  life  with 
his  wife,  who  was  ignorant  of  the  domestic  tempests  which  he 
concealed ;  he  was  cured  of  a  serious  disease,  judged  to  be 
mortal  by  Dr.  Bianchon,  by  the  devotion  of  Paz  and  Mme. 
Liginska.  Comte  Adam  Laginski  resided  on  the  Rue  de  la 
Pepiniere,  which  became  a  part  of  the  Rue  de  la  Boetie.  He 
occupied  one  of  the  most  charming  and  aristocratic  mansions 
of  the  time  of  Louis-Philippe.  He  attended,  in  1838,  the 
inauguration  festival  of  Josepha  Mirah's  apartments,  Rue  de  la 
Ville-d'Eveque.  In  the  same  year  he  assisted  at  the  wedding 
of  Wenceslas  Steinbock  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — The 
Imaginary  Mistress,  It — Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Laginska,  Comtesse  Adam,  nee  Clementine  du  Rouvre, 
about  1816;  wife  of  the  foregoing,  the  niece,  by  her  mother, 
of  the  Marquis  de  Ronquerolles  and  Mme.  de  Serizy.  She 
formed  a  portion  of  the  group  of  charming  young  women  and 
brilliant  ladies  among  whom  were  Mesdaraes  de  I'Estorade, 
de  Portenduere,  Marie  de  Vandenesse,  du  Guenic,  and  de 
Maufrigneuse.  Captain  Paz  loved  the  countess,  but  never 
declared  his  passion  ;  she  surprised  the  steward's  secret,  and 
ended  by  having  a  feeling  of  love  for  him.  The  heroic  virtue 
of  Paz  preserved  her,  not  only  in  this  case,  but  in  another 
more  dangerous  one:  in  the  month  of  January,  1842,  he  car- 


COMJkDIE  HUMAINE.  299 

ried  her  off  from  M.  de  la  Palferine,  whom  she  had  consented 
to  meet  at  the  opera-ball,  and  who  intended  taking  her  to  a 
private  dining-room  in  a  certain  restaurant  [The  Imaginary 
Mistress,  li\. 

Lagounia,  Perez  de,  a  wholesale  dry  goods  dealer  at 
Tarragona,  Catalonia,  in  the  time  of  Napoleon,  who  had 
been  helped  by  the  Marana.  He  raised  as  his  own  daughter, 
and  very  religiously,  the  child  of  a  famous  Italian  courtesan, 
from  the  day  of  her  mother's  visit  until  the  French  occupa- 
tion, in  1808  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Lagounia,  Dona  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  and,  like  him, 
she  watched  over  Juana  Marana,  from  the  time  she  arrived 
with  her  mother  in  Tarragona  until  it  was  sacked  by  the 
French  [The  Maranas,  e\- 

La  Grave,  Mesdemoiselles  de,  kept,  in  1824,  on  the 
Rue  Notre-Dame-des-Champs,  Paris,  a  boarding-school,  at 
which  M.  and  Mme.  Phellion  gave  lessons  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Laguerre,  Mademoiselle  ;  her  Christian  name  was  prob- 
ably Sophie;  born  in  1740,  died  in  1815  ;  one  of  the  "  ira- 
pures,"  the  most  famous  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  a  cantatrice 
at  the  opera,  she  had  been  "  on  a  bowing  acquaintance"  with 
the  guillotine.  In  1790,  alarmed  by  the  trend  of  public 
affairs,  she  established  herself  at  the  Aigues,  which  she  acquired 
from  Bouret,  the  former  owner.  Before  Bouret,  she  had  been 
kept  by  La  Palferine's  grandfather,  whom  she  brought  to  ruin. 
The  simplicity  of  the  singer,  surrounded  as  she  was  by  past- 
masters  in  roguery  like  Gaubertin,  Fourchon,  Tonsard,  and 
Mme.  Soudry,  all  made  difficulties  for  the  succeeding  owner, 
Montcornet.  Although  ignorant  of  their  relationship,  eleven 
families  of  poor  farm  laborers  of  Amiens  and  the  neighborhood 
partook  of  Sophie  Laguerre' s  estate  [The  Peasantry,  JJ — A 
Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF\  M.  H.  Gourdon  gave  a  biography 
of  this  artist,  from  which  some  of  the  details  above  given  were 
taken.  From  other  sources  we  learn  that  Mile.  Laguerre's 
Christian  name  should  be  Josephine  and  not  Sophie. 


300  COMPENDIUM 

La  Haye,  Mademoiselle  de.     See  Petit-Claud,  Madame. 

L#aniard,  a  probable  rival  of  Felix  Gaudissart's.  In  May, 
1831,  in  a  caf6  at  Blois,  he  vaunted  the  great  drummer,  who 
nevertheless  spoke  of  him  as  a  "  little  tomtit  "  [Gaudissart  the 
Great,  o]. 

Lambert,  Louis,  born  in  1797  at  Montoire,  Loir-et-Cher. 
The  only  son  of  humble  farmers,  who  in  no  way  offered  im- 
pediment to  his  wish  to  study,  which  was  prematurely  mani- 
fest. In  1807  he  was  sent  to  his  maternal  uncle,  M.  Lefebvre, 
cure  of  Mer,  a  little  town  on  the  Loire,  near  Blois.  By  the 
favor  and  benevolence  of  Mme.  de  Stael,  he  afterward  went 
to  the  college  at  Vendome;  he  there  stayed  during  181 1, 
181 2,  1813,  and  1814.  Lambert  elbowed  Barchou  de  Pen- 
hoen  and  Jules  Dufaure ;  he  seemed  a  bad  scholar,  and  had  to 
endure  the  persecutions  of  Father  Haugoult,  whose  brutal 
hands  confiscated  and  destroyed  his  ''Treatise  on  the  Will," 
which  had  been  composed  during  the  hours  of  classes.  The 
mathematician  had  already  deceived  the  philosopher.  His 
comrades  dubbed  him  *' Pythagorus."  His  logic  passed, 
Louis  Lambert,  orphaned  of  his  father,  lived  for  two  years  at 
Blois,  with  Lefebvre ;  then,  being  desirous  of  seeing  Mme. 
de  Stael,  he  walked  to  Paris,  arriving  there  July  14,  181 7;  he 
was  not  able  to  speedily  call  upon  his  illustrious  benefactor 
and  returned  about  1820.  During  these  three  years  Lambert 
lived  a  life  of  labor ;  he  frequented  Meyraux,  and  became  a 
cherished  and  admired  member  of  the  Cenacle  on  the  Rue 
des  Quatre-Vents,  over  which  d'Arthez  presided.  He  again 
took  the  road  to  Blois,  running  through  Touraine ;  he  knew 
Pauline  Salomon  de  Villenoix  and  loved  her  with  a  passion 
that  was  fully  reciprocated.  Some  brain  trouble  preceded  a 
promise  of  marriage,  and,  as  the  date  fixed  drew  nearer,  it  be- 
came further  aggravated.  During  one  of  these  attacks  at 
Croisic,  in  1822,  Lambert  met  the  Cambremers,  and,  by 
Pauline  de  Villenoix's  advice,  he  told  their  history.  Louis 
had  an  increase  of  his  dementia;  he  thought  himself  impotent 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  301 

and  wished  one  day  to  practice  upon  himself  the  celebrated 
operation  performed  by  Origene.  Lambert  died  September 
25,  1824;  he  would  have  married  Pauline  the  following  day 
[Louis  Lambert,  %i — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilf 
— A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e\. 

Lambert,  Madame,  aunt  of  Mme.  Mollot ;  she  lived, 
about  1839,  at  the  town  of  Troyes,  Champagne  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  DB,  1ET1\ 

Lambert,  Madame,  lived  in  Paris,  in  1840.  She  was 
then  of  '•canonical"  age,  and  looked  like  "a  nun";  she 
exercised  the  duties  of  housekeeper  in  M.  Picot's,  a  professor 
of  mathematics,  household  No.  9  Rue  du  Val-de-Grace.  She 
realized  enormous  profits  out  of  that  old  scientist.  Mme. 
Lambert  made  the  most  of  her  hypocrisy  and  seeming  piety. 
She  addressed  herself  to  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  and  asked 
him  to  prepare  a  petition  to  the  Academy,  hoping  to  receive 
a  reward  for  servants,  out  of  the  Montyon  foundation.  At 
the  same  time  she  confided  to  La  Peyrade  twenty-five  thou- 
sand francs,  the  savings  stolen  from  her  household  money. 
In  this  circumstance  Mme.  Lambert  seems  to  have  been  the 
instrument  of  the  celebrated  detective,  Corentin  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Lambrequin,  Marie,  a  Chouan,  whom  the  Blues  shot  in 
Brittany  in  1799  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Lamporani,  one  of  the  names  assumed  by  Prince  Gondol- 
phini,  the  exile  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Langeais,  Due  de,  an  emigrant  under  the  Restoration;  at 
the  time  of  the  Terror  he  concerted  and  corresponded  with 
Abbe  de  MaroUes  and  the  Marquis  de  Beauseant  to  enable 
two  nuns  to  leave  Paris — one  of  these  was  Sister  Agathe  and 
the  other  a  Langeais  [An  Episode  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  t\. 
In  181 2  Langeais  married  Antoinette  de  Navarreins  when  she 
was  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  allowed  his  wife  perfect  free- 
dom and  abandoned  none  of  his  bachelor  habits,  neither  did 
he  deprive  himself  of  any  pleasures ;  he  lived  the  same  as  if 


302  COMPENDIUM 

separated  from  her.  In  1818  Langeais  had  command  of  a 
regiment  of  military  and  had  charge  at  the  Court.  He  died 
in  1823  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  &&]. 

Langeais,  Duchesse  Antoinette  de,*  wife  of  the  fore- 
going, daughter  of  the  Due  de  Navarreins ;  born  in  1794; 
raised  by  the  Princess  de  Blamont-Chauvry,  her  aunt ;  grand- 
niece  of  Vidame  de  Pamiers ;  niece  by  marriage  of  the  Due 
de  Grandlieu.  She  was  adorably  beautiful  and  intelligent, 
and  reigned  in  Paris  at  the  commencement  of  the  Restoration. 
Her  "dearest  friend"  was,  in  1819,  the  Vicomtesse  Claire  de 
Beaus6ant ;  it  amused  her  to  see  the  cruel  blow  struck  her 
by  the  marriage  of  her  lover,  Ajuda-Pinto.  Soon  after  the 
Duchesse  de  Langeais  laid  herself  out  to  seduce  the  Marquis 
de  Montriveau;  she  played  the  part  of  Celimene  with  him 
and  caused  him  much  suffering.  He  had  his  revenge.  Dis- 
dained, he,  in  his  turn,  disdained  her,  or  at  least  she  so 
thought ;  she  suddenly  disappeared  from  Paris,  after  having 
scandalized  all  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain  by  a  prolonged 
wait  in  her  carriage  before  Montriveau's  mansion.  In  the 
retreat  of  the  barefooted  Carmellites  in  Spain,  on  a  small  is- 
land in  the  Mediterranean,  she  became  a  nun — Sister  Therese. 
After  a  long  search  Montriveau  at  last  discovered  her,  and  he 
had  a  conversation  with  her  behind  a  grating  in  the  presence 
of  the  Mother  Superior,  and  he  made  an  effort  to  carry  her 
off — but  she  was  dead.  In  this  audacious  undertaking  the 
marquis  had  the  aid  of  eleven  of  the  Thirteen,  including  Ron- 
querolles  and  de  Marsay.  The  duchesse  had  lost  her  husband 
one  year  ago;  she  was  liberated,  when  dead,  in  1824  [Father 
Goriot,  6r — The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  &&]. 

Langeais,  Marquis  de,  the  father  of  a  daughter  who  was 
ugly  and  without  a  dowry;  when  thirty  years  of  age,  in  1828, 

*  On  the  stage  at  the  Vaudeville  and  Gait6,  Paris,  Ancelot  and  Alexis 
Decomberousse,  of  the  one  part,  and  MM.  Dugu6  and  Peaucellier,  of  the 
other,  in  1834  and  1868,  successively  and  differently  represented  Antoi- 
nette de  Langeais'  life. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  303 

Rastignac  rallied  Philippe  Bridau  about  marrying  her  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J'\ 

Langeais,  Mademoiselle  de.     See  Agathe,  Sister. 

Langlume,  a  jolly,  little  man  ;  a  miller ;  the  deputy  mayor 
of  Blangy  about  1823,  during  the  political  struggles,  and  also 
owner  of  finances  and  lands.  He  assisted  and  succored  the  pa- 
ternal grandfather  of  Genevieve  Niseron  [The  Peasantry,  ^]. 

Languet,  a  cure,  who  built  Saint-Sulpice  and  was  known 
by  Toupillier,  who  begged,  about  1840,  at  the  doors  of  that 
church,  in  Paris ;  one  of  the  parishes  in  the  sixth  arrondisse- 
ment  since  the  year  i86o(?)  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Lansac,  Duchesse  de,  of  the  younger  branch  of  the  house 
of  Navarreins ;  aunt  of  the  Comte  and  Comtesse  de  Soulanges. 
In  Paris,  1809,  she  represented  the  feminine  aristocracy  which 
was  so  brilliant  under  Louis  XV.  The  Duchesse  de  Lansac, 
in  November  of  that  year,  consented  one  evening  to  meet 
Isemberg,  Montcornet,  and  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon,  at 
Malin  de  la  Gondreville's  hotel,  that  she  might  bring  about  a 
reconciliation  between  her  nephew  and  niece,  whose  house- 
hold was  in  a  turmoil  [The  Peace  of  the  House,  j\. 

Lantimeche,  born  about  1770.  In  1840  a  journeyman 
horseshoer ;  an  inventor  without  means ;  he  went  to  Cerizet 
the  usurer,  Rue  des  Poules,  in  order  to  obtain  a  loan  of  one 
hundred  francs  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Lanty,  Comte  de,  the  owner  of  a  splendid  hotel  near  the 
Elysee-Bourbon,  which  he  bought  of  M.  de  Carigliano,  under 
the  Restoration  ;  he  gave  magnificent  fetes  which  all  Parisian 
society  attended,   although   it    was    ignorant  of  the  count's 

Note. — It  may  interest  the  reader  to  learn  that  Rabou  finishes  M.  de 
Lanty's  biography  as  follows  :  He  was  a  dark,  little  man,  pitted  with  the 
smallpox ;  this  adventurer's  real  name  was  Duvignon.  Under  the  Rev- 
olution he  had  been  Jacqueline  Collin's  lover.  In  1800  he  was  con- 
demned to  death  for  the  crime  of  counterfeiting ;  he  escaped  by  a  simu- 
lated suicide,  and  sailed  for  America  with  Catherine- Antoinette  Goussard, 
whom  he  deserted  in  the  new  world.     After  a  long  time  he  returned  to 


304  COMPENDIUM 

antecedents.  Lanty  was  a  mysterious  person,  who  was  be- 
lieved to  be  a  skillful  chemist.  He  married  the  wealthy  niece 
of  a  strange  castrated  man,  Zambinella,  by  whom  he  had  two 
children — Marianina  and  Filippo  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II. — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>2>]. 

Lanty,  Comtesse  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born  about 
1795  J  the  niece  and  like  the  adopted  daughter  of  a  very 
opulent  castrate,  Zambinella ;  was  the  mistress  of  M.  de  Mau- 
combe,  by  whom  she  had  Marianina  de  Lanty.  The  Restora- 
tion knew  Mme.  de  Lanty's  splendor  and  magnificence,  of 
which  for  a  long  time  she  was  the  reigning  belle.  The  Rev- 
olution drove  her  to  Italy.  Mme.  de  Lanty  had  Maxime  de 
Trailles  as  a  lover,  and  hid  this  by  a  seeming  liaison  between 
her  daughter  Marianina  and  Sallenauve  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II. — 
The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  1>J>]. 

Lanty,  Marianina  de,  daughter  of  the  preceding  and 
legitimate  daughter  of  Comte  de  Lanty,  but  in  reality  of  M. 
de  Maucombe;  born  in  1809.  A  striking  likeness  and  sister 
of  Renee  de  I'Estorade,  nee  Maucombe.  About  1825  she 
concealed  and  tenderly  cared  for,  in  the  beautiful  family 
mansion  at  Paris,  her  great-uncle  Zambinella.  During  the 
sojourn  of  her  parents  in  Rome,  she  took  lessons  in  sculpture 
of  Charles  Dorlange,  who  afterward  became  the  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  in  1839,  under  the  name  of  Comte  de  Sallenauve. 
Maxime  de  Trailles,  Mme.  de  Lanty's  lover,  made  the  most 
of  the  tender  but  chaste  relations  existing  between  tutor  and 
pupil.     Thanks  to  the  Abbe  Fontanou,  and  the  despair  of 

France ;  he  was  recognized  by  Jacques  Collin.  He  then  resolved  to  com- 
pletely disappear,  and  feigned  to  die  of  apoplexy;  he  had  a  most  elaborate 
funeral  at  his  parish  church  of  Saint- Philippe-du-Roule,  and  was  buried 
at  Marcoussis  Castle,  near  Montlhery.  By  Jacqueline  Collin's  assistance 
he  came  out  of  his  grave  and  left  for  Italy,  where  he  again  manufac- 
tured false  money  on  a  large  scale  ;  six  months  afterward  he  and  his 
accomplices  were  attacked  by  the  Italian  Carabiniers,  in  an  old  ruinous 
castle,  and  he  was  there  killed. — Translator. 


COM^D-IE  HUMAINE,  305 

Mme.  de  Lanty,  she  was  thrown  into  a  convent ;  there  she  was 
under  the  name  of  Sister  Eudoxie.  She  was  a  young  damsel 
of  marvelous  beauty,  whose  singing  was  only  comparable  to 
that  of  Malibran,  Sontag,  and  Fodor*  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II. — 
The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I}D\ 

Lanty,  Filippo  de,  the  brother  and  younger  of  the  pre- 
ceding ;  the  second  child  of  Comte  and  Comtesse  de  Lanty ; 
he  assisted,  when  young  and  beautiful,  under  the  Restoration, 
at  the  festivals  given  by  his  parents.  By  his  marriage,  which 
took  place  under  Louis-Philippe,  he  entered  into  a  German 
grand-ducal  family  [Sarrasine,  ds^  II. — The  Deputy  for  Arcis, 

La  Palferine  or  La  Palferine,!  Gabriel-Jean- Anne- 
Victor  -Benjamin  -  Georges  -  Ferdinand  -  Charles-Edouard 
RusTicoLi,  Comte  de,  born  in  1802  ;  of  Italian  origin,  of  a 
historical  but  poor  house ;  paternal  grandson  of  one  of  the 
lovers  and  keepers  of  Josephine-Sophie  Laguerre ;  an  indirect 
descendant  of  the  Countess  of  Albany,  from  whom  came  the 
names  Charles-Edouard  \  in  his  veins  he  had  both  the  blood 
of  a  gentleman  and  a  condoitiere.  Under  Louis-Philippe  he 
is  found  ruined;  with  the  physiognomy  of  Louis  XIII.,  with 
his  detestable  spirit,  his  style  of  high  carriage,  and  inde- 
pendent, impertinent,  and  seductive  \  he  was  the  type  of  the 
sparkling  bohemian  of  the  Boulevard  Gand ;  so  much  so  that, 
according  to  the  notes  furnished  by  Nathan,  Mme.  de  la  Bau- 
draye  one  day  drew  him  and  spoke  of  him  as  a  person  whose 
manner  was  at  once  a  disguise  and  a  transparency.  He  had 
numberless  traits :  the  singular  servitor  of  his — the  little 
Savoyard  (called  Father  Anchise) ;  the  scorn  incessantly  mani- 
fested for  the  species  of  the  bourgeois  class ;  the  toothbrush 
reclaimed  from  Mile.  Antonia  Chocardelle,  the  mistress  who 
had  deserted  him ;  his  meeting  with  Mme.  du  Bruel,  her  pur- 

*Mme.  Mainvielle-Fodor  is  still  living  (1896)  on  the  Rue  de  la  Pompe, 
Passy,  where  she  has  resided  for  nearly  thirty  years. 

\  The  La  Palferines'  motto  was :  In  hoc  signo  vincimus. 
20 


306  COMPENDIUM 

suit,  capture,  and  neglect  of  that  supple  puppet,  whose  heart 
he  broke  and  whose  fortunes  he  was  the  means  of  changing, 
are  some  of  these.  He  then  lived  in  the  faubourg  du  Roule, 
in  a  simple  garret,  and  he  there  once  received  Zephirin  Mar- 
cas.  The  poverty  of  his  domicile  never  prevented  a  brilliant 
assemblage  from  visiting  him;  Josepha  Mirah  invited  and 
received  La  Pal  ferine,  Rue  de  la  Ville-l'Eveque,  at  the  time 
of  the  inauguration  of  her  hotel.  Under  these  fantastic  sur- 
roundings Rusticoli  became  Beatrix  de  Rochefide's  lover,  a 
few  years  after  the  facts  above  related,  when  the  **Debats'* 
inserted  a  story  about  him  which  resounded  far  and  near.  Na- 
than paved  the  way  for  this.  Trailles,  the  master  of  Charles- 
Edouard,  pushed  the  negotiations,  and  precipitated  him  into 
an  intrigue  and  adventure,  after  receiving  the  assent  of  Abbe 
Brossette  on  the  request  of  the  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu :  the 
liaison  which  resulted  between  La  Palferine  and  Mme.  de 
Rochefide  reconciled  the  Calyste  du  Guenic  household.  On 
his  side  Comte  Rusticoli  deserted  Beatrix,  and  she  returned 
to  her  husband,  Arthur  de  Rochefide.  During  the  winter  of 
1842  La  Palferine  was  smitten  with  Mme.  de  Laginska;  he 
made  a  rendezvous  with  her,  but  was  checkmated  by  the 
sudden  intervention  of  Thaddee  Paz  [A  Prince  of  Bo- 
hemia, FF — A  Man  of  Business,  I — Cousin  Betty,  w — Bea- 
trix, J? — The  Imaginary  Mistress,  }i\. 

La  Peyrade,  Charles-Marie-Theodose  de,  born  in  the 
vicinity  of  Avignon,  in  1813  ;  one  of  the  eleven  nephews 
and  nieces  of  spy  Peyrade,  who  established  himself  under  the 
name  of  his  petty  estate  called  Canquoelle.  A  dangerous 
Southerner,  a  deliberate  and  reflective  blonde ;  endowed  with 
ambition  ;  astute  and  sharp.  About  1829  he  left  the  depart- 
ment of  Vancluse  to  walk  to  Paris,  there  to  seek  his  uncle 
Peyrade,  whom  he  supposed  to  be  rich,  but  was  ignorant  of 
what  profession  he  followed.  Theodose  arrived  by  the  barrier 
d'Enfer,*  at  the  moment  when  Jacques  Collin  killed  Coren- 
*  Abolished  since  180Q, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  307 

tin's  friend.  On  that  date  he  entered  a  house  of  ill-fame, 
where  he  had  as  a  "mistress  for  an  hour"  Lydie  Peyrade, 
who  was,  though  unknown  to  him,  his  own  cousin.  For  three 
years  Theodose  lived  on  one  hundred  louis  which  had  secretly 
been  sent  him  by  Corentin.  The  chief  of  the  detective  police 
also  sent  him  an  exhortation  which  bade  him  adopt  a  career 
in  the  judiciary ;  but  journalism  tempted  La  Peyrade,  and  he 
edited  a  paper  of  which  Cerizet  was  the  manager.  The  failure 
of  that  gazette  again  left  Theodose  in  a  very  wretched  state. 
Nevertheless,  he  again  commenced  and  pursued  his  way,  what 
time  Corentin,  still  secretly,  paid  the  costs  of  his  studies. 
M.  de  la  Peyrade,  once  licensed,  became  a  barrister ;  he  pro- 
fessed a  "Social  Catholicism" ;  before  the  justices  of  the  peace 
of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  arrondissements  he  voluntarily  and 
gratuitously  plead  the  causes  of  the  poor.  He  occupied  the 
third  floor  in  the  Thuilliers'  house,  Rue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer.  Between  the  hands  of  Dutocq  and  Cerizet,  ugly 
creditors,  he  passively  submitted  to  oppression ;  Theodose 
adopted  and  concurred  in  their  scheme  for  his  marriage  to  the 
adulterous  daughter  of  M.  Thuillier,  Mile.  Cdeste  CoUeville, 
but  he  had  a  struggle  with  Felix  Phellion,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
triple  aid  of  Mme.  CoUeville  and  M.  and  Mile.  Thuillier,  he 
was  defeated  by  Corentin's  manoeuvres.  His  marriage  to 
Lydie  Peyrade  repaired  his  old  involuntary  error.  The  suc- 
cessor of  Corentin,  he  obtained  the  direction  of  the  King's 
police,  1840  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

La  Peyrade,  Madame  de,  the  cousin-german  and  wife  of 
the  foregoing,  nte  Lydie  Peyrade  about  i8ioj  the  natural 
daughter  of  the  police-spy  Peyrade  and  Mile.  Beaumesnil, 
who  passed  as  his  first  mistress  successively  in  Holland  and  in 
Paris  on  the  Rue  des  Moineaux,  where  he  drew  upon  himself 
the  vengeance  of  Jacques  Collin  about  the  end  of  the  Restora- 
tion. Rashly  smitten  by  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  she  was  thrown 
into  a  house  of  ill-fame  while  Peyrade  was  dying.     She  left 


308  COMPENDIUM 

there  crazy.  Her  cousin  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  had  forcibly 
and  carnally  known  her  there,  but  knew  nothing  of  the  rela- 
tionship. Corentin  adopted  the  demented  girl,  who  was  a 
musician  and  singer  of  remarkable  ability.  On  the  Rue 
Honore-Chevalier,  1840,  he  prepared  the  marriage  and  cure 
of  his  ward  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\ 

La  Pouraille,  the  regular  nickname  of  Dannepont. 

Larabit,  Doctor,  was,  in  1843,  ^"^  ^^  ^^  three  physi- 
cians called  in  consultation  to  see  Adeline  Hulot  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Laravine,  incited,  in  1829,  by  the  Prince  de  Cadignan, 
the  grandmaster  of  the  hounds,  by  these  words:  *'A11  those 
who  cannot  smell  the  infectious  dog  kennels"  [Modeste 
Mignon,  ^]. 

Laraviniere,  a  tavern-keeper  or  hotel-keeper  in  the  west 
of  France,  who  stored  the  **  Brigands'  "  arms  for  the  Royalists 
under  the  first  Empire.  He  was  condemned  to  five  years* 
imprisonment  about  the  year  1809,  and  without  a  doubt  by 
Bourlac  or  Mergi  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Lardot,  Madame;  born  in  1771;  lived  at  Alengon*  in 
1816;  she  there  exercised  the  business  of  a  laundress;  where 
lived  with  her  Grevin,  her  relation,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Valois. 
Among  those  who  worked  for  her  were  Cesarine  and  Suzanne, 
the  latter  of  whom  became  Mme.  Theodore  Gaillard  [The 
Old  Maid,  aa^. 

Laroche,  born  in  1763  at  Blangy;  was  in  1823  an  old 
laborer  and  vine-dresser,  who  pursued  the  wealthy  with  a 
blind,  cold  hatred,  particularly  Montcornet,  the  lord  of  the 
manor  of  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

La  Roche,  Sebastien  de,  born  in  the  early  part  of  the 

nineteenth  century ;  probably  the  son  of  a  modest  employe 

retired   from   the  Treasury.     At  Paris,   in    December,   1824, 

poor,  capable,  and  zealous,  he  is  found  as  a  supernumerary  of 

*  On  the  Rue  du  Cours,  which  still  bears  the  same  name. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  309 

Xavier  Rabourdin's  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance.  He  lived  with 
his  widowed  mother  on  the  Rue  du  Roi-Dore  in  the  Marais. 
M.  and  Mme.  Rabourdin  welcomed  and  protected  him.  M. 
de  la  Roche  testified  to  their  kindness  by  his  willingness  to 
copy  a  mysterious  and  precious  work  on  the  administration ; 
he  was  surprised  at  this  by  Dutocq,  and  the  untoward  revela- 
tions of  its  contents  caused  the  double  dismissal  of  his  chief 
and  himself  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

La  Roche-Guyon,  De,  the  eldest  of  one  of  the  oldest 
families  in  the  department  of  the  Orne ;  also  allied  to  the 
Esgrignons  and  a  constant  frequenter  of  their  salons.  Through 
Maitre  Chesnel  he  asked,  in  1805,  but  unsuccessfully,  for  the 
hand  of  Armande  d'Esgrignon  [The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, aa\ 

La  Roche-Hugon,  Martial  de,  a  slender  Southerner, 
restless  and  audacious;  he  long  filled  a  brilliant  career  in 
politics  and  the  administration.  From  1809  he  was  councilor 
of  State,  beside  being  master  of  requests.  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte protected  the  young  Provengal.  In  the  month  of  No- 
vember of  the  same  year,  Martial  was  one  of  those  invited  to 
the  festival  given  by  Malin  de  Gondreville,  at  which  the 
Emperor  was  vainly  expected  to  attend,  where  Montcornet 
appeared,  and  at  which  the  Duchesse  de  Lansac  reconciled 
the  differences  existing  between  her  nephew  and  niece — M. 
and  Mme.  de  Soulanges.  M.  de  la  Roche-Hugon  had  at  that 
time  for  his  mistress  Mme.  de  Vaudremont,  who  was  also 
,  present  at  the  ball.  For  five  years  he  was  united  in  the  closest 
ties  of  friendship  with  Montcornet.  In  1815  the  acquisition 
of  the  Aigues  was  the  work  of  Martial,  who  had  been  a  prefect 
of  the  Empire,  and  remained  in  that  position  under  the  Bour- 
bons. From  1821  to  1823  M.  de  la  Roche-Hugon  reigned  in 
the  department  of  Burgundy,  when  he  was  relieved  of  his 
prefecture.  His  dismissal — Comte  de  Casteran  replaced  him — 
threw  Martial  into  the  Liberal  opposition,  but  this  was  only 
momentarily,  for  he  soon  accepted  an  ambassadorship.     The 


310  COMPENDIUM 

regime  of  Louis-Philippe  welcomed  M.  de  la  Roche-Hugon ; 
he  became  a  minister,  an  ambassador,  and  a  councilor  of 
State.  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  who  had  distinguished  himself, 
gave  him  the  hand  of  one  of  his  sisters.  There  were  no  chil- 
dren by  this  union.  Martial  preserved  his  influence  and  fre- 
quented the  favorites  of  the  day,  M.  and  Mme.  de  I'Estorade. 
His  relations  with  the  royal  police  chief,  Corentin,  attest  his 
standing  in  1840.  A  deputy  a  year  after  becoming  Rastignac' s 
brother-in-law,  he  most  probably  succeeded  Hector  Hulot 
in  the  ministry  of  War  [The  Peace  of  the  House,  j — The 
Peasantry,  _K — A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F^-The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  J>i> — The  Middle  Classes,  ee — Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

La  Roche-Hugon,  Madame  Martial  de.  See  Rastig- 
nac, Mesdemoiselles  de. 

La  Rodiere,  Stephanie  de.  See  Nueil,  Madame  Gas- 
ton de. 

Larose,  corporal  in  the  7 2d  demi-brigade;  killed  in  an 
engagement  with  the  Chouans,  in  September,  1799  [The 
Chouans,  J5]. 

La  Roulie,  Jacquin,  the  head-huntsman  to  the  Prince  de 
Cadignan ;  he  took  part  with  his  master,  about  1829,  in  a 
brilliant  hunt  given  in  Normandy,  in  which  the  Mignons  de 
la  Bastie,  the  Maufrigneuses,  the  H^rouvilles,  M.  de  Canalis, 
E16onore  de  Chaulieu,  and  Ernest  de  la  Briere  took  part. 
Jacquin  La  Roulie  was  then  an  old  man  ;  he  was  a  Frenchman 
of  the  old  school,  and  protested  against  John  Barry,  princi- 
pally because  he  was  an  Englishman,  being  present  [Modeste 
Mignon,  K\ 

Larsonniere,  M.  and  Mme.,  formed,  under  the  Restora- 
tion, the  aristocracy  of  the  little  town  of  Saumur,  of  which 
Felix  Grandet  had  been  mayor  in  the  years  anterior  to  the 
first  Empire  [Eugenie  Grandet,  JE7]. 

La  Thaumassiere,  De,  grandson  of  the  historian  du 
Berry,  a  young  land-owner,  the  dandy  of  Sancerre.  Admitted 
to  the  salon  of  M.  de  la  Baudraye,  he  was  unfortunate  enough 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  311 

to  yawn  during  an  explanation  which  she  was  giving,  for  the 
fourth  time,  on  Kant's  philosophy,  and  from  thenceforth  he 
was  regarded  as  a  man  completely  lacking  intelligence  and 
soul  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Liatournelle,  Simon-Babylas,  born  in  1777;  was  a  notary 
at  1' Havre,  where  he  had  bought  the  best  practice  in  that 
place  for  one  hundred  thousand  francs,  loaned  him,  in  181 7, 
by  Charles  Mignon  de  la  Bastie.  He  married  Mile.  Agnes 
Labrosse,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  Exupere;  he  remained 
devoted  to  his  benefactors,  the  Mignons  de  la  Bastie  [Modeste 
Mignon,  jK^]. 

Latournelle,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Agnes 
Labrosse,  the  daughter  of  a  clerk  of  the  court  of  First  Instance 
at  r Havre.  Well  educated,  of  a  most  ungraceful  figure  and 
appearance,  a  bourgeoise  to  the  very  last,  but  at  the  same  time 
a  good  person ;  she  had  by  her  marriage  a  son,  who,  notwith- 
standing all  this,  was  christened  Exupere ;  and  received  Jean 
Butscha.  Mme.  Latournelle  was  a  frequenter  of  the  Mignons, 
and  on  each  occasion  testified  to  her  affection  for  them  [Mod- 
este Mignon,  JK"]. 

Latournelle,  Exupere,  son  of  the  two  foregoing.  He 
frequently  accompanied  his  parents  on  their  visits  to  the 
Mignons,  about  the  end  of  the  Restoration.  He  was  then  an 
insignificant,  great  young  man  [Modeste  Mignon,  TT]. 

Laudigeois,  married,  the  father  of  a  family,  a  true  mem- 
ber of  the  lower  middle-class ;  he  was  engaged  under  the 
Restoration,  in  the  mairie  of  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  arron- 
dissem.ent  in  Paris,  an  employment  in  which  he  was  treated 
unjustly  by  Colleville,  in  1840.  From  1824  he  was  the  inti- 
mate friend  and  neighbor  of  Phellion  and  his  moral  twin ;  he 
took  part  in  their  modest  play  each  evening.  Laudigeois, 
introduced  by  the  Phellions,  finished  by  frequenting  the 
Thuilliers,  in  the  middle  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  His  civil 
status  required  correction  :  the  name  of  Leudigeois  figured  on 
some  of  his  papers  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 


S12  COMPENDIUM 

Laure,  the  surname  of  a  sweet  and  charming  girl  of  poor 
condition,  who  followed  Servin's  course  in  defending  Ginevra 
di  Piombo,  her  older  but  affectionate  comrade,  in  1815,  at 
Paris  [The  Vendetta,  i\ 

Laurent,  a  Savoyard,  nephew  of  Antoine ;  husband  of  a 
clever  lace-dresser  and  cashmere-darner,  etc.  In  1824  he 
lived  at  Paris  with  her  and  Gabriel,  their  relative.  He  col- 
lected the  pass-out  checks  at  a  subsidized  theatre  in  the  even- 
ings ;  the  days  he  devoted  to  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  which 
he  was  a  doorkeeper.  Laurent  was  the  first  to  wish  success 
to  Rabourdin  in  his  effort  to  succeed  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere 
[Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Laurent,  of  the  5th  Chasseurs,  during  the  Russian  cam- 
paign ;  in  1812,  he  was  soldier-servant  to  Major  Philippe  de 
Sucy ;  he  died  before  the  passage  of  the  Beresina  [Farewell,  e\. 

Laurent,  in  1815,  the  servant  of  M.  Henri  de  Marsay; 
the  equal  of  Frontin  of  the  old  regime;  from  Moinot,  the 
letter-carrier,  he  obtained  for  his  master  the  address  of  Paquita 
Valdes  and  some  information  about  her  [The  Girl  with  Golden 
Eyes,  ds,  II.]- 

Lavienne,  a  servant  of  Jean-Jules  Popinot,  Rue  du 
Fouarre,*  Paris,  1828.  "Made  for  his  master,"  whom  he 
actively  assisted  in  his  charitable  undertakings  [The  Commis- 
sion in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Lavrille,  an  illustrious  naturalist  attached  to  the  Jardin 
des  Plantes  j  living  on  the  Rue  de  Buifon,  Paris,  1831.  Con- 
sulted on  the  strange  "Wild  Ass*  Skin,"  which  Valentin 
desired  most  anxiously  to  stretch.  Lavrille  could  afford  him 
no  help  on  the  subject,  and  sent  the  young  man  to  a  professor 
of  mechanics,  Planchette.  Lavrille,.  "the  great  pontif  of 
zoology,"  reduced  the  science  to  one  nomenclature:  he  was 
then  engaged  in  a  treatise  on  the  genus  canard  [The  Wild 
Ass'  Skin,  A\ . 

*  An  old  word  and  an  old  name ;  it  signified,  in  other  times,  Rue  de  la 
Paille  (or  Straw). 


CO  ME  DIE  HUMAINE.  313 

Lebas,  Joseph,  born  about  1779;  an  orphan  without  for- 
tune he  was  received  and  employed  by  the  Guillaumes,  dry 
goods  dealers,  at  the  ''  Cat  and  Racket,"  Rue  Saint-Denis, 
Paris.  Under  the  first  Empire  he  married  Virginie,  the 
eldest  of  his  employers'  two  daughters,  although  he  was 
smitten  by  the  youngest.  Mile.  Augustine ;  at  the  same  time 
he  succeeded  to  the  business  "At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and 
Racket,"  which  see.  During  the  first  years  of  the  Restora- 
tion he  was  the  president  of  the  tribunal  of  commerce.  At 
that  time  Joseph  Lebas,  who  frequented  the  Birotteaus,  was, 
with  his  wife,  invited  to  their  famous  ball;  with  Jules  Des- 
marets  he  assisted  in  Cesar  Birotteau's  rehabilitation  [Cesar 
Birotteau,  O].  During  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe  he  was 
intimate  with  Celestin  Crevel ;  he  retired  from  business  and 
lived  at  Corbeil  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Lebas,  Madame  Joseph,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Vir- 
ginie GuiLLAUME  about  1784;  the  eldest  of  two  daughters  of 
Guillaume,  of  the  "Cat  and  Racket";  the  "living  picture 
of  her  mother,  both  physically  and  morally."  Under  the  first 
Empire  she  and  her  younger  sister,  Augustine  de  Sommervieux, 
were  both  married  at  the  same  time,  in  their  parish  church  of 
Saint-Leu,  Paris;  in  her  case  it  was  a  marriage  of  inclination 
on  her  side  alone,  while  her  sister's  was  by  the  mutual  in- 
clination of  wife  and  husband.  She  cared  little  for  the  mis- 
fortunes of  others.  In  turn  she  frequented  the  Birotteaus  and 
the  Crevels,  and,  after  retiring  from  trade,  about  the  middle 
of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  went  to  live  at  Corbeil  [At  the  Sign 
of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t — Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Lebas,  probably  the  son  of  the  foregoing.  About  1836 
the  first  deputy  to  the  attorney-general  at  Sancerre  ;  two  years 
later  a  councilor  to  the  Court  at  Paris ;  he  was  to  be  married 
to  Hortense  Hulot,  1838,  but  Crevel  broke  this  oft"  [Muse  of 
the  Department,  OC— Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Leblanc,  about  1840,  was  the  doorkeeper  to  the  minister 


314  COMPENDIUM 

©f  Public   Works,    Eugene   de   Rastignac   [The   Deputy  for 
Arcis,  DJ),  i5JJE;]. 

Lebceuf,  for  a  long  time  an  attache  of  the  courts  at  Mantes, 
the  president  of  the  court,  in  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  He 
there  knew  the  Camusots  de  Marville  and  had  a  slight  ac- 
quaintance with  Maitre  Fraisier,  who  was  stricken  from  the 
rolls  about  1845  [Cousin  Pons,  dC\ 

Lebrun,  a  sub-lieutenant,  then  captain  in  the  72d  demi- 
brigade,  commanded  by  Hulot,  during  the  war  against  the 
Chouans,  in  1799  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Lebrun,  chief  of  division  in  the  Ministry  of  War,  1838; 
he  counted  Marneffe  amongst  his  employes  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Lebrun,  the  surety,  friend  and  disciple  of  Dr.  Bouvard. 
A  physician  in  the  Conciergerie,  May,  1830;  he  was  called 
upon  to  certify  to  the  death  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  z\.  About  1845,  Lebrun  was  at  the  head  of  the 
medical  service  at  the  boulevard  theatre,  managed  by  Felix 
Gaudissart  [Cousin  Poms,  ac]. 

Lecamus,  Baron  de  Tresnes,  who  was  councilor  to  the 
Court  of  Paris;  in  1816  he  lived  at  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie's, 
on  the  Rue  Chanoinesse.  People  knew  him  under  the  name 
of  Joseph ;  he  was  one  of  the  *'  Brotherhood  of  Consolation," 
in  which  also  were  Montauran,  Alain,  Abbe  de  Veze,  and 
Godefroid  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Lechesneau,  appointed  by  the  favor  of  Cambacerds  and 
Bonaparte,  as  attorney-general  in  Italy ;  he  was  compelled,  in 
spite  of  his  real  capacity,  to  leave  his  post,  owing  to  his 
scandalous  conduct  as  a  gallant.  At  the  end  of  the  Republic 
and  the  commencement  of  the  Empire,  he  became  the  director 
of  the  jury  of  accusation  at  Troyes.  Lechesneau,  who  sided 
with  Malin,  was,  about  1806,  engaged  in  the  Hauteserre- 
Simeuse-Michu  affair  [A  Historical  Mystery,;!^]. 

Leclercq,  a  Burgundian,  commission  agent  to  the  wine 
merchants  in  the  department  about  Ville-aux-Fayes ;  one  of 
the  sub-prefects  of  the  same  province ;  he  was  under  obliga- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  315 

tions  to  Gaubertin  and  Mme.  Soudry,  and  also,  perhaps,  to 
Rigou ;  they  on  their  side  were  equally  obliged  to  him,  A 
partnership  formed  by  him,  "Leclercq  &  Co.,"  Quai  de 
Bethune,  He  Saint-Louis,  Paris,  enabled  him  to  rival  the 
celebrated  "firm  of  Grandets."  Leclercq  married,  in  1815, 
Mile.  Jenny  Gaubertin.  The  banker  of  the  wine  warehouse- 
men, a  regent  of  the  Bank ;  he  was  a  deputy  from  the  arron- 
dissement  of  Ville-aux-Fayes  and  sat  with  the  Left  Centre, 
during  the  Restoration  ;  about  1823  he  acquired  a  magnificent 
estate,  reported  to  bring  in  thirty  thousand  francs  per  annum 
[The  Peasantry,  JB]. 

Leclercq,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nie  Jenny 
Gaubertin;  the  eldest  daughter  of  Gaubertin,  the  steward  at 
the  Aigues ;  she  received  a  dowry  of  one  hundred  thousand 
francs  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Leclercq,  the  brother  and  brother-in-law  of  the  two  pre- 
ceding ones,  was,  during  the  Restoration,  a  tax-collector  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  and,  like  the  other  members  of  his  family, 
persecuted,  more  or  less,  Comte  de  Montcornet  [The  Peasan- 
try,  M\ 

Lecocq,  a  tradesman  of  whom  Guillaume  of  the  "  Cat  and 
Racket"  said  his  failure  was  not  surprising.  This  bank- 
ruptcy was  as  the  battle  of  Marengo  to  Guillaume  [At  the 
Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f]. 

Lecceur,  at  the  end  of  the  Restoration  and  under  Louis- 
Philippe,  at  Nemours,  a  process-server  whose  practice  Goupil 
bought  after  the  other's  failure  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JBT]. 

Lecuyer  was,  at  Bordeaux,  Maitre  Solonet's  head  clerk ; 
he  succeeded  him  in  1827  [A  Marriage  Settlement,  a(l\. 

Lefebvre,  Louis  Lambert's  uncle,  successively  an  Ora- 
torian,  a  priest  who  had  taken  the  oath,  and  cure  of  Mer,  a 
little  town  situated  on  the  Blois.  Of  a  fine  nature  and  with  a 
heart  of  rare  tenderness,  he  took  great  care  of  the  infancy  and 
growth  of  his  remarkable  nephew.  The  Abbe  Lefebvre  after- 
ward  lived   at   Blois,  the  Restoration  revoking  his  curacy, 


316  COMPENDIUM 

About  1822,  under  the  form  of  a  letter,  he  sent  the  first  fruits 
of  his  writings  to  Croisic  and  dedicated  them  to  Cambremer. 
The  following  year,  when  apparently  very  old,  he  told,  in  a  pub- 
lic vehicle,  of  the  frightful  suffering,  intermingled  with  intel- 
lectual grandeur,  that  preceded  the  death  of  Louis  Lambert 
[Louis  Lambert,  u — A  Seaside  Tragedy,  e]. 

Lefebvre,  Robert,  a  French  painter  well  known  in  the 
time  of  the  first  Empire.  In  1806  he  painted  Michu's  por- 
trait for  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne  [A  Historical  Mystery,  j^]. 
Among  the  very  considerable  number  of  works  of  Robert 
Lefebvre  figures  a  portrait  of  Hulot  d'Ervy  in  the  uniform  of 
a  commissary  of  provender  in  the  Imperial  Guards.  This 
work  is  dated  18 10  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Leganes,  Marquise  de,  a  Spanish  grandee;  married  and 
the  father  of  two  daughters,  Clara  and  Mariquita ;  and  three 
sons,  Juanito,  Philippe,  and  Manuel.  He  showed  his  patriotism 
in  the  war  sustained  against  the  French  under  the  Empire,  and 
died  under  harrowing  and  tragic  circumstances,  which  were 
involuntarily  provoked  by  Mariquita.  The  Marquis  de  Le- 
ganes perished  by  the  hand  of  the  eldest  of  his  children,  who 
was  condemned  to  perform  the  office  of  executioner  [The 
Executioner,  e\ 

Leganes,  Marquise  de,  wife  of  the  preceding  and  destined 
like  him  to  perish  by  the  hand  of  Juanito,  her  eldest  son ;  he 
was  spared  this  horrible  deed  of  the  war  by  her  death*  [The 
Executioner,  e\. 

Leganes,  Clara  de,  daughter  of  the  above ;  she  submitted 
to  the  death  inflicted  by  the  hand  of  her  brother,  the  same  as 
the  Marquis  de  Leganes  [The  Executioner,  e\. 

Leganes,  Mariquita  de,  sister  of  the  foregoing,  who  saved 
Victor  Marchand,  a  major  in  the  French  Infantry,  from  a 
great  danger  in  1808;  he  desired  to  return  acknowledgments 
for  this  and  endeavored  to  gain  pardon  for  the  Legands ;  this 
was  only  granted  on  an  atrociously  cruel  condition,  which  was 
*  A  number  of  dramas  have  been  written  on  this  affair. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  317 

that  one  of  the  family  should  act  as  the  executioner  of  the 
remainder  [The  Executioner,  e\. 

Leganes,  Juanito  de,  brother  and  son  of  the  foregoing 
of  the  same  name;  born  in  1778.  Little  and  ill-made,  he 
had  a  proud,  disdainful  air  and  noble  manner;  gentle  and 
delicate  in  feeling,  he  was  also  famous  as  a  Spanish  gallant. 
Upon  the  insistence  of  his  proud  family  he  consented  to  exe- 
cute his  father,  his  two  sisters,  and  his  two  brothers.  Juanito 
was  preserved  from  death  in  order  to  continue  his  race  [The 
Executioner,  e\. 

Leganes,  Philippe  de,  younger  brother  of  the  preceding, 
born  about  1788.  A  noble  Spaniard,  condemned  to  death; 
was  executed  by  his  eldest  brother,  in  1808,  during  the  war 
against  the  French  [The  Executioner,  e\. 

Leganes,  Manuel  de,  born  in  i860;  the  last  of  five 
descendants  of  the  Leganes  house ;  like  them  he  perished  by 
the  hand  of  his  brother,  Juanito  de  Leganes  [The  Execu- 
tioner, e\. 

Leger,  a  large  farmer  of  Beaumont-sur-Oise  ;  he  married 
the  daughter  of  Reybert,  who  succeeded  Moreau  as  steward  at 
Presles,  which  belonged  to  the  Comte  de  Serizy ;  by  her  he 
had  one  daughter,  who  became  Mme.  Joseph  Bridau,  in  1838 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Legras,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet*s  cashier  in  1818  [Cesar 
Birotteau,  O]. 

Legrelu,  a  fine  man,  tall,  and  bald-headed  ;  he  was  a  wine- 
dealer,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rues  des  Canettes  and  Guisarde, 
Paris;  he  supplied  Father  Toupillier,  Mme.  Cardinal's  un- 
cle, the  '^beggar  at  Saint-Sulpice's  church"  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\- 

Lelewel,  a  revolutionary  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  the 
head  of  the  Polish  republican  party  in  Paris,  1835  ;  he  was 
the  friend  of  Dr.  Moise  Halpersohn  [The  Imaginary  Mis- 
tress, /i— The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Lemarchand.     See  Tours-Minieres,  des. 


318  COMPENDIUM 

Lemire,  professor  of  drawing  at  the  Imperial  Lyceum, 
Paris,  in  1812;  he  was  assured  that  this  was  Joseph  Bridau's 
vocation;  he  informed  the  future  painter's  mother,  who  was 
struck  with  consternation  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7]. 

Lempereur,  in  1819,  clerk  to  Charles  Claparon,  *'a  man 
of  straw,"  who  acted  for  du  Tillet,  Roguin  and  company;  on 
the  Rue  Chaussee-d'Antin,  Paris  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Lemprun,  born  in  1745,  son-in-law  of  the  truck-gardener 
Galard,  of  Auteuil.  He  was  successively  attached  to  the  firms 
of  Thelusson  and  Keller,  Paris;  he  was  probably  the  first 
messenger  employed  by  the  Bank  of  France,  for  his  service 
there  dated  from  its  foundation.  He  there  knew  Brigitte 
Thuillier,  and  his  only  daughter,  Celeste,  married  Brigitte's 
brother,  Louis-Jerome  Thuillier.  M.  Lemprun  died  the  fol- 
lowing year  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\> 

Lemprun,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  the  daughter 
of  Galard  the  truck-gardener,  of  Auteuil ;  the  mother  of  Mme. 
Celeste  Thuillier,  her  only  child.  She  lived  in  the  village  of 
Auteuil*  from  1815  to  1829,  the  year  of  her  death.  In  that 
place  she  raised  and  looked  after  Cdleste  Phellion,  daughter  of 
L.  J.  Thuillier  and  Mme.  Colleville.  Mme.  Lemprun  left  a 
small  fortune,  which  was  administered  by  Mile.  Brigitte  Thuil- 
lier ;  Mme.  Lemprun  had  been  the  heiress  of  her  father,  M. 
Galard.  This  Lemprun  succession  amounted  to  twenty  thou- 
sand francs  of  savings  and  a  house  which  sold  for  twenty-eight 
thousand  francs  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Lemulquinier,  originally  from  Flanders ;  his  name  came 
from  the  linen  merchants  of  that  province,  who  were  called 
*' Mulquiniers."  He  lived  at  Douai,  where  he  was  Balthazar 
Claes*  valet;  he  encouraged  and  seconded  the  foolish  re- 
searches of  his  master,  in  spite  of  the  coolness  and  avowed 
opposition  of  the  women  of  the  family.     Lemulquinier  at  the 

*  Since  i860  included  in  Paris,  becoming  one  of  the  quarters  of  the 
sixteenth  arrondissement. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  319 

same  time  sacrificed  to  M.  Claes  all  that  he  possessed  [The 
Quest  of  the  Absolute,  X>]. 

Lenoncourt,  De,  born  about  1708,  a  marshal  of  France, 
first  a  marquis,  and  then  duke ;  he  was  the  friend  of  Victor- 
Amedee  de  Verneuil,  and  received  Marie  de  Verneuil,  the 
natural  daughter  of  his  old  comrade,  at  the  latter's  death.  He 
falsely  passed  for  being  the  young  girl's  lover.  The  septua- 
genarian refused  to  marry  her  and  emigrated ;  he  arrived  at 
Coblentz  without  her  [The  Chouans,  Ji\ 

Lenoncourt,  Due  de,  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  *s  father.  The 
beginning  of  the  Restoration  was  the  brilliant  epoch  of  his 
life.  He  obtained  a  peerage,  owned  a  mansion  in  Paris,  on 
the  Rue  Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain;*  he  protected  and 
found  a  place  for  Birotteau,  after  his  failure.  Lenoncourt 
enjoyed  the  favor  of  Louis  XVHL ;  was  first  gentleman  of 
the  bedchamber;  he  welcomed  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon,  to 
whom  he  was  somewhat  allied.  The  Due  de  Lenoncourt  was, 
in  1835,  at  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan'swhen  de  Marsay  exposed 
the  political  reasons  for  the  mysterious  abduction  of  Gondre- 
ville.  Tliree  years  later  he  died  of  old  age  [The  Lily  of  the 
Valley,  i — The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa — A  Historical 
Mystery,  ;lf— Beatrix,  P]. 

Lenoncourt,  Duchesse  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born 
in  1758  ;  a  cold,  lean  person,  dissimulating  and  ambitious ;  she 
was  scarcely  ever  tender  and  pleasant  with  her  daughter,  who 
became  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Lenoncourt-Givry,  Due  de,  the  last  son  of  M.  and 
Mme.  de  Chaulieu ;  he  one  time  followed  a  military  career. 
The  titles  and  names  were  joined  when  about  1827  he  married 
Madeleine  de  Mortsauf  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  t?].  The 
Due  de  Lenoncourt-Givry  made  a  brilliant  show  in  Paris,  in 
the  time  of  Louis-Philippe ;  he  was  invited  to  Jos^pha  Mirah's 
inauguration  f8te,  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-l'Evgque  [Cousin 
Betty,  ic;].  The  following  year  he  was  indirectly  concerned 
*  Since  1838  simply  Saint-Dominique. 


320  COMPENDIUM 

in  the  duel  which  Sallenauve  fought,  for  Marie  Gaston,  with 
the  duke's  brother-in-law  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>jy\. 

Lenoncourt-Givry,  Duchesse  de,  wife  of  the  preceding, 
whose  Christian  name  was  Madeleine.  Mme.  de  Lenoncourt- 
Givry  was  one  of  the  two  children  of  the  Comte  and  Comtesse 
de  Mortsauf.  She  was  nearly  the  last  surviving  one  of  her 
family,  her  mother  dying  while  she  was  yet  young,  and  later 
she  lost  her  brother  Jacques.  Raised  in  Touraine,  she  there 
knew,  when  a  young  girl,  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  to  whom  she 
never  spoke  after  she  was  orphaned.  Her  inheritance,  titles, 
names,  and  estates  brought  about  her  marriage  with  the 
youngest  son  of  M.  and  Mme.  de  Chaulieu,  1827;  this  also 
brought  her  the  friendship  of  the  Grandlieus,  one  daughter  of 
whom  accompanied  her  to  Italy  about  May,  1830.  During 
the  first  day's  journey,  near  Bouron,  she  saw  the  arrest  of 
Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i — 
Letters  of  Two  Brides,  V — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^Z\ 

Lenormand  was,  at  Paris,  a  clerk  of  the  court,  during  the 
Restoration  ;  he  rendered  Comte  Octave  de  Bauvan  the  service 
of  passing  as  the  owner  of  a  house,  on  the  Rue  Saint-Maur,  of 
which  that  high  statesman  was  the  real  proprietor,  in  which 
dwelt  Honorine  de  Bauvan,  his  wife,  who  dwelt  apart  from 
that  powerful  personage  [Honorine,  A?]. 

Leon  was  the  name  of  a  non-commissioned  officer  who 
ravished  Aquilina  de  la  Garde*  from  Castanier.  He  was 
executed  September  21,  1822,  on  the  Place  de  Grdve,  Paris, 
with  Bories,  the  sergeant-major,  and  two  sergeants  of  the  45th 
regiment  of  the  line  [Melmoth  Reconciled,  d\ 

Leopold,  who  figures  in  Albert  Savarus*  novel  "I'Ambi- 
tieux  par  Amour,"  was  Maitre  Leopold  Hannequin.  The 
author  gave  him — either  real  or  inventive — a  lively  passion 
for  Rodolphe's  mother  \  the  autobiographical  novel  was  pub- 
lished in  *'la  Revue  de  I'Est"  in  Louis-Philippe's  reign 
[Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

*  She  died,  without  a  doubt,  in  1864. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  321 

Lepas,  Madame,  for  a  long  time  an  innkeeper  at  Ven- 
dome;  she  had  the  physique  of  a  Fleming;  knew  M.  and 
Mme.  de  Merret,  and  gave  information  about  them  to  Horace 
Bianchon,  for  she  provided  lodgings  for  Comte  Bagos  de 
Feredia,  who  died  so  tragically.  She  could  also  have  told  the 
author  who,  under  the  title  of  *' Valentine,"  presented  on  the 
Gymnase-Dramatique  stage  the  story  of  the  adultery  and  pun- 
ishment of  Josephine  de  Merret.  The  Vendome  hostess  also 
pretended  that  she  had  entertained  princesses,  M.  Decazes, 
General  Bertrand,  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Due  and  Duchesse 
d'Abrantes,  etc.  [The  Great  Bretdche,  I — Another  Study  of 
Woman,  V\. 

Lepitre,  a  fervent  Royalist,  was  in  relationship  with  M. 
de  Vandenesse,  when  he  would  have  fled  from  the  Temple 
Marie-Antoinette.  Soon  after,  under  the  Empire,  he  became 
the  head  of  an  institution  in  the  old  hotel  Joyeuse,  Saint- 
Antoine  quarter,  Paris ;  among  Lepitre's  pupils  was  one  of  M. 
de  Vandenesse's  sons,  Felix.  Lepitre  was  fat  and  club-footed 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Lepitre,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing  ;  she  looked  after 
Felix  de  Vandenesse  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Lepressoir  or  Lapressoir,  the  notary  of  the  Liberals 
of  Alengon  in  1816 ;  he  had  a  clerk  who  soon  after  became  a 
notary  and  succeeded  Maitre  Chesnel  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Leprince,  M.  and  Madame.  M.  Leprince  was  an  auctioneer 
and  appraiser  at  Paris  about  the  end  of  the  Empire  and  the 
commencement  of  the  Restoration.  He  afterward  sold  his 
practice  for  a  good  price ;  but  being  caught  by  one  of  Nucin- 
gen's  liquidations,  he  lost  by  speculating  on  the  Bourse  all  the 
benefits  that  he  had  realized.  The  father-in-law  of  Xavier 
Rabourdin,  he  risked  his  all  in  perilous  enterprises  in  order 
to  augment  the  well-being  of  his  son-in-law's  household,  but 
he  died  impoverished  under  Louis  XVHL  He  left  some 
beautiful  pictures,  which  ornamented  the  salon  of  his  children 
on  the  Rue  Duphot.  Mme.  Leprince  died  before  the  ruin  of 
21 


322  '  COMPENDIUM 

the  auctioneer;  she  was  a  distinguished  woman,  a  natural 
artist ;  she  worshiped  and  spoiled  her  only  child  Celestine, 
who  became  Mme.  Xavier  Rabourdin ;  to  her  she  commu- 
nicated her  tastes  and  developed  them  in  the  young  girl ;  it 
was  perhaps  indiscreet  to  give  her  an  instinct  for  intelligent 
luxury  and  refinement  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Leroi,  Pierre,  called  Marche-a-Terre,  a  Chouan  of  Fou- 
geres,  in  which  he  played  an  important  part  during  the  civil 
war  of  1799  in  Brittany;  there  he  manifested  both  bravery 
and  cruelty.  He  survived  the  drama  of  those  times,  for  he  is 
found  at  Alen9on  about  1809,  when  Cibot  (Pille-Miche)  was 
brought  before  the  court  as  a  Chauffeur  and  attempted  to  fly. 
About  twenty  years  later,  1827,  the  said  Pierre  Leroi  was 
quietly  trading  in  cattle  in  the  markets  of  his  province  [The 
Chouans,  jB— The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T— The  Old 
Maid,  aal. 

Leroi,  Madame,  mother  of  the  foregoing,  had  been  ill  and 
was  cured  by  going  to  Fougeres  and  praying  under  the  Patte- 
d'Oie  oak,  which  was  adorned  with  a  beautiful  wooden  image 
of  the  Virgin,  erected  to  recall  the  apparition  of  Sainte-Anne 
d'Auray  at  that  spot  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

L#eseigneur  de  Rouville,  Baronne,  the  widow  without 
pension  of  the  captain  of  a  vessel,  who  died  in  Batavia,  under 
the  Republic,  during  a  fight  against  an  English  ship.  The 
mother  of  Mme.  Hippolyte  Schinner.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century  she  lived  at  Paris  with  Adelaide,  her 
daughter,  who  was  unmarried.  She  was  a  tenant  of  Molineux's 
on  the  Rue  de  Surene,  near  the  Madeleine,  where  she  occupied 
a  poor,  dark  lodging  on  the  fourth  floor.  There  she  frequently 
received  Hippolyte  Schinner,  du  Halga,  and  de  Kergarouet. 
From  the  two  latter  she  was  often  delicately  made  the  recip- 
ient of  their  discreet  sympathy,  and  never  suspected  the  pre- 
arrangement  which  caused  it  [The  Purse,  p\. 

L#eseigneur,  AdelaTde.     See  Schinner,  Mme.  Hippolyte. 

Lesourd  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  Mme.  Guen^e, 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  323 

Provins,  and,  about  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  presided  over 
the  court  in  that  town,  where  he  had  once  been  the  public 
prosecutor.  About  1828  he  defended  Pierrette  Lorrain  and 
made  manifest  his  feelings  against  the  heads  of  local  liberalism 
which  was  represented  by  Rogron,  Vinet,  and  Gouraud  [Pier- 
rette, i]. 

Lesourd,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing  and  eldest 
daughter  of  Mme.  Guenee ;  for  a  long  time  she  was  called  in 
Provins  "the  little  Madame  Lesourd"  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Leveille,  Jean-Francois,  a  notary  at  Alengon ;  the  in- 
corrigible correspondent  of  the  Royalists  of  Normandy  under 
the  Empire ;  he  provided  arms  for  them ;  received  the  nick- 
name of  ''  the  confessor"  ;  during  the  year  1809  he  suffered 
capital  punishment,  following  a  judgment  rendered  by  Bour- 
lac  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Levrault,  enriched  in  the  hardware  business  in  Paris; 
died  in  1813 ;  he  had  been  the  owner  of  the  Nemours'  house 
in  which  he  lived  after  Dr.  Minoret,  at  the  beginning  of  181 5 
[Ursule  Mirouet,  H  ]. 

Levrault-Cremiere  belonged  to  the  above  family ;  for- 
merly a  miller;  he  became  a  Royalist  under  the  Restora- 
tion; was  mayor  of  Nemours  in  1829  and  1830,  and  was  re- 
placed, during  the  Revolution  of  July,  by  Cr^miere-Dionis, 
the  notary  [Ursule  Mirouet,  Il\ 

Levrault-Levrault,  the  eldest  son,  so  designated  to 
establish  a  distinction  between  the  numerous  homonyms  and 
relatives;  he  was  a  butcher  at  Nemours,  in  1820,  during  the 
time  of  Mile.  Ursule  Mirouet's  persecutions  [Ursule  Miro- 
uet, J]. 

Levroux,  an  attorney  of  Mantes;  he  was  succeeded  by 
Maitre  Fraisier  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Le"win,  Lord  Charles  Philip  ;  at  Florence  he  met  Marie 
Gaston,  widower  of  Louise  de  Chaulieu  ;  he  formed  a  great 
attachment  and  friendship  for  the  poet ;  he  went  to  see  him 
at  Ville-d'Avray,  and,  in  1839,  when  Gaston  had  gone  crazy, 


324  COMPENDIUM 

he  took  him   to  the  lunatic  asylum  at  Hanwell,  which  was 
managed  by  Dr.  Ellis  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  lyj),  JEJE]. 

Lfiautard;  Abbe,  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  was  the  head  of  an  institution  at  Paris,  where  amongst 
his  pupils  he  had  Godefroid,  the  guest  of  Mme.  de  la  Chan- 
terie,  in  1836,  and  a  future  initiate  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Consolation  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Lina,  Due  de,  Italian.  In  the  early  years  of  the  century 
he  was  one  of  la  Marana's  lovers,  she  who  was  Mme.  Diard's 
mother  [The  Maranas,  e]. 

Lindet,  Jean-Baptiste-Robert,  called  Robert.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  legislative  assembly  and  the  Convention  ;  born  at 
Bernay  in  1743,  died  at  Paris  in  1825  ;  minister  of  Finances 
under  the  Republic;  he  found  places  for  Antoine  and  the 
Poiret  brothers;  he  had  a  position  in  the  Treasury  nearly 
twenty  years  later  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Lisieux,  Francois,  called  Grand-Fils ;  a  "refractory"  in 
the  department  of  Mayenne ;  a  Chauffeur  under  the  first  Em- 
pire and  compromised  in  the  Royalist  movement  in  the  West 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Listomere,  Marquis  de,  son  of  the ''old  Marquis  de 
Listomere,"  a  deputy  of  the  majority  under  Charles  X.;  he 
received  the  peerage ;  the  husband  of  the  eldest  Mile,  de  Van- 
denesse,  his  cousin.  One  evening,  in  1828,  in  his  hotel  on 
the  Rue  Saint-Dominique,  he  was  quietly  reading  "la  Gazette 
de  France,"  and  did  not  in  the  least  notice  the  flirtations  of 
his  wife  with  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  then  twenty-five  years  old 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i— Lost  Illusions,  ^— A  Study  of 
Woman,  a]. 

Listomere,  Marquise  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the 
eldest  daughter  of  M.  de  Vandenesse,  one  of  the  two  sisters 
of  Charles  and  Felix.  Like  her  husband  and  cousin  she  was 
a  shining  light  at  the  beginning  of  the  Restoration,  of  which 
she  was  one  of  the  types,  conciliating  religion  and  the  world ; 
she  received  the  reward  of  this  policy;  she  dissimulated  in 


.  COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  325 

her  youth  by  making  a  parade  of  austerity.  Nevertheless  her 
mask  fell  off  about  1828,  at  the  time  of  Mme.  de  Mortsauf's 
death,  when,  to  her  loss,  she  thought  of  allowing  Eugene  de 
Rastignac  to  pay  court  to  her.  Under  Louis-Philippe,  she 
took  part  in  a  conspiracy  intended  to  throw  her  sister-in- 
law,  Marie  de  Vandenesse,  into  the  arras  of  Raoul  Nathan 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  Ji— A  Study  of  Woman,  a— A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Listomere,  Marquise  de,  the  mother  and  mother-in-law 
of  the  two  preceding  ones  ;  she  was  a  Grandlieu.  When  very 
old  she  lived  on  the  He  Saint-Louis,  Paris,  during  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  During  the  last  days  preced- 
ing her  death  she  received  her  grand-nephew,  Felix  de  Van- 
denesse, then  a  scholar,  when  he  was  alarmed  by  the  frozen, 
solemn  aspect  of  those  who  surrounded  that  austere  person 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Listomere,  Baronne  de,  had  been  the  wife  of  a  lieu- 
tenant-general. A  widow,  she  lived  in  the  town  of  Tours, 
under  the  Restoration,  and  there  assumed  the  grand  air  of 
past  centuries.  She  assisted  the  brothers  Birotteau.  In  1823 
she  received  the  army  paymaster,  Gravier,  and  the  terrible 
Spanish  husband  who,  in  1808,  killed  the  French  surgeon 
Bega.  Mme.  de  Listomere  died  while  vainly  trying  to  have 
Francois  Birotteau's  legacy  restored  to  him  [The  Abbe  Birot- 
teau, i — Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Listomere,  Baron  de,  nephew  of  the  foregoing,  born 
in  1791  ;  we  know  him  successively  as  a  lieutenant  and  the 
captain  of  a  vessel.  During  his  furlough,  passed  with  his  aunt 
at  Tours,  he  began  by  intervening  in  favor  of  the  persecuted 
Abbe  Francois  Birotteau,  but  took  the  other  side  of  the  argu- 
ment when  he  comprehended  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
Congregation,  and  that  the  priest  was  a  legatee  in  the  Baronne 
de  Listomere's  will  [The  Abbe  Birotteau,  -i]. 

Listomere,  Comtesse  de,  an  old  woman  of  the  faubourg 
Saint-Honore,  Paris,  in  1839.     ^^  ^^  Austrian  ambassador's 


326  COMPENDIUM 

she  met  Rastignac,  Mme.  de  Nucingen,  du  Tillet,  and  Maxime 
de  Trailles  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  1>X)]. 

Listomere-Landon,  Marquise  de,  born  in  Provence 
about  1744;  *'a  woman  of  the  eighteenth  century,"  she  had 
been  the  friend  of  Duclos  and  de  Richelieu.  For  some  time 
she  lived  in  the  town  of  Tours ;  she  there  gave  counsel  and 
advice  to  her  young  niece  by  marriage,  the  Marquise  Victor 
d'Aiglemont ;  unfortunately  this  was  put  an  end  to  by  the 
return  of  the  Due  d'Angouleme  in  1814  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  S\ 

Livingston,  at  Paris,  in  the  faubourg  du  Temple,  set  up 
the  hydraulic  press  in  Cesar  Birotteau's  factory,  which  was 
intended  to  extract  the  celebrated  *'  Cephalic  Oil  "  from  hazel- 
nuts [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]- 

Lolotte,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  '*  marchers"  of  the 
opera.  She  was  at  Paris,  under  the  Restoration,  the  mistress 
of  Jean-Jacques  Rouget,  when  he  nearly  died  in  her  arms  at 
Florentine's  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Lolotte.     See  Topinard,  Madame. 

Longueville,  De,  a  noble  and  illustrious  family  whose 
last  young  shoot  belonged  to  the  latest  and  younger  branch, 
being  the  Due  de  Rostein-Limbourg,  executed  in  1793  ['The 
Sceaux  Ball,  u\. 

Longueville,  a  deputy,  under  Charles  X. ;  the  son  of  a 
barrister,  he  invariably  preceded  his  name  with  the  particle. 
M.  Longueville  was  interested  in  the  firm  of  Palma,  Werbrust 
&  Co.;  the  father  of  Auguste,  Maximilien,  and  Clara;  he 
desired  a  peerage  himself,  and  would  have  liked  his  eldest  son 
to  have  married  a  minister's  daughter,  endowing  him  with  an 
income  of  fifty  thousand  francs  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  ii\. 

Longueville,  Auguste,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  he  was  endowed  with 
an  income  of  fifty  thousand  francs ;  he  probably  married  the 
daughter  of  a  minister ;  was  secretary  of  an  embassy.  During 
a  vacation  he  saw  Mme.  Emilie  de  Vandenesse  in  Paris  and 


COMiDIE  HUMATNE.  327 

he  confided  the  secret  of  his  family  to  her.  He  died  young, 
during  a  mission  to  Russia  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  iC\. 

Longueville,  Maximilien,  one  of  the  three  children  of 
M.  Longueville,  sacrificed  for  his  brother  and  sister ;  he  went 
into  trade,  living  on  the  Rue  du  Sentier — which  was  even 
then  no  longer  the  Rue  du  Gros-Chenet — an  employe  in  a 
wealthy  dry-goods  house  situated  near  the  Rue  de  la  Paix. 
He  worshiped  Emilie  de  Fontaine,  who  became  Mme.  Charles 
de  Vandenesse,  with  a  passion  which  was  also  reciprocated, 
but  which  ceased  so  to  be  when  the  young  damsel  found  that 
he  was  simply  a  dry-goods  clerk.  The  death  of  his  father  and 
brother  made  him  a  banker,  ennobled  him,  made  him  a  peer, 
and  finally  he  became  the  Vicomte  Guiraudin  de  Longueville 
[The  Sceaux  Ball,  u\ 

Longueville,  Clara,  sister  and  daughter  of  the  foregoing, 
born  under  the  Empire ;  she  was  a  delicate,  fresh,  and  noble 
young  girl  at  the  time  of  the  Restoration ;  the  companion 
and  protege  of  her  brother,  Maximilien,  the  future  Vicomte 
Guiraudin,  she  was  warmly  welcomed  at  the  pavilion  of  the 
Planats  de  Baudry,  situated  in  the  Sceaux  valley,  where  she 
visited  the  youngest  heiress,  then  unmarried,  of  Comte  de 
Fontaine  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  \C\. 

Longuy  was  one  of  the  leading  insurrectionists  in  the 
West  of  France  during  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  [The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T\ 

Lora,  Leon  de,  born  in  1806,  one  of  the  noblest  families 
of  Roussillon,  of  Spanish  origin,  son  of  the  aught  but  wealthy 
Comte  Fernand  Didas  y  Lora  and  of  Leonie  de  Lora,  nee 
Gazonal.  The  younger  brother  of  Don  Juan  de  Lora,  nephew 
of  Urraca  y  Lora ;  at  an  early  age  he  left  his  native  country, 
and  his  family  for  a  long  time  heard  nothing  of  him.  He 
never  informed  them  of  himself.  He  went  to  Paris  and  was 
admitted  into  the  painter  Schinner's  studio,  where,  under  his 
sobriquet  of  Mistigris,  he  became  famous  by  his  genius  and 


328  COMPENDIUM 

witty  sallies.  In  1820  he  went  with  Joseph  Bridau  to  the 
mansion  of  Comte  de  Serizy's,  at  Presles,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Oise.  Soon  after  Leon  protected  his  very  sympathetic,  but 
very  mediocre  comrade,  Pierre  Grassou.  About  1830  he  be- 
came famous.  Arthez  confided  the  decoration  of  a  castle  to 
him  and  Leon  showed  himself  a  master.  Some  years  after- 
ward he  made  the  tour  of  Italy  with  Felicite  des  Touches  and 
Claud  Vignon.  Present  at  the  recital  of  the  domestic  mis- 
fortunes of  the  Bauvans,  Lora  very  finely  analyzed  Honorine's 
character  before  M.  de  I'Hostal.  Leon  attended  all  the  fStes 
like  one  in  society,  and  at  one  installation  inauguration — 
that  of  Mile.  Brisetout  on  the  Rue  Chauchat — he  met  Bixiou, 
Etienne  Lousteau,  Stidmann,  and  Vernisset.  He  frequented 
the  Hulots  and  their  circle;  assisted  by  Joseph  Bridau,  he 
took  W.  Steinbock  out  of  Clichy  debtor's  prison ;  he  was 
present  at  Steinbock's  wedding,  when  he  married  Hortense 
Hulot,  and  was  invited  to  Valerie  Marneffe's  second  marriage. 
At  that  time  he  was  the  greatest  living  landscape  and  marine 
painter ;  the  king  of  punsters ;  of  an  unbridled  life,  and 
Bixiou's  follower.  Fabien  du  Ronceret  gave  him  instructions 
to  ornament  an  apartment  of  his  on  the  Rue  Blanche.  Rich, 
illustrious,  and  a  neighbor  of  Joseph  Bridau  and  Schinner,  on 
the  Rue  de  Berlin,  a  member  of  the  Institute  and  an  officer 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  Leon  received  his  cousin,  Palafox 
Gazonal,  when,  flanked  by  Bixiou,  they  met  Ninette,  Jenny 
Cadine,  Marius,  Ossian,  Massol,  Masson,  Giraud,  Vignon, 
Carabine,  Rastignac,  Dubourdieu,  Mme.  Nourrisson,  and 
Mme.  Fontaine*  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  u — A  Bach- 
elor's Establishment,  J— A  Start  in  Life,  s — Pierre  Gras- 
sou, V — Honorine,  h — Cousin  Betty,  w — Beatrix,  J?]. 

Lora,  Don  Juan  de,  eldest  brother  of  the  preceding ;  he 
lived  his  whole  life  at   Roussillon,  his  native  country;  he 

*  The  biography  of  L6on  de  Lora  passes  in  silence  a  revelation,  with- 
out doubt  imaginary,  made  by  Mme.  Nourrisson  on  the  intimate  relations 
existing  between  the  artist  and  Antonia  Chocardelle. 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  329 

spoke  of  "  the  little  Leon,"  his  younger  brother,  before  their 
cousin,  Palafox  Gazonal  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vl\. 

Loraux,  Abbe,  born  in  1752;  of  great  gentleness  and 
delicacy  of  mind,  but  wrapped  around  in  an  ungraceful  exte- 
rior. The  confessor  of  the  pupils  of  the  college  of  Henri  IV., 
and  also  of  Agathe  Bridau;  for  twenty-two  years  he  was  the 
vicar  of  Saint-Sulpice,  Paris ;  Cesar  Birotteau's  spiritual  direc- 
tor, in  1 81 8;  in  18 19  he  became  the  cure  at  the  Blanco- 
Manteaux,  a  parish  in  the  Marais.  He  was  then  a  neighbor 
of  Octave  de  Bauvan's,  in  whose  house,  about  1824,  he  was 
able  to  place  his  nephew  and  adopted  son,  M.  de  I'Hostal. 
Loraux  attended  Honorine  when  she  returned  home  to  Bau- 
van ;  she  became  penitent  and  died  in  1830,  watched  over  by 
him  [A  Start  in  Life,  s — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J— 
Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Honorine,  lz\. 

Lorrain,  a  little  retailer  at  Pen-Hoel  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  married,  and  had  a  son  who 
also  had  an  establishment;  on  the  son's  death  he  succored  the 
family — consisting  of  one  child,  Pierrette,  and  a  widow — 
which  he  left.  Lorrain  soon  afterward  was  completely  ruined 
and  took  refuge  in  an  asylum  for  the  necessitous  poor,  con- 
fiding Pierrette,  now  fully  orphaned,  to  her  nearest  relatives, 
the  Rogrons  of  Provins.  Lorrain  himself  died  before  the 
death  of  his  wife  [Pierrette,  t]. 

Lorrain,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing  and  grandmother 
of  Pierrette  Lorrain,  born  about  1757.  She  lived  with  her 
husband,  whom  she  much  resembled,  until  his  death ;  then, 
when  a  widow,  at  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  her  broken  for- 
tunes were  repaired  by  the  return  made  by  Collinet,  of  Nantes, 
to  her  of  a  large  amount  due  her.  She  went  to  Provins  to 
recover  her  grandchild,  Pierrette,  but  found  her  dying;  she 
retired  to  Paris,  where  she  did  not  long  survive  her,  and  made 
Jacques  Brigaut  her  heir  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Lorrain,  son  of  the  above  of  the  same  name ;  a  Breton, 
captain  in  the  Imperial  Guard,  then  a  major  in  the  line ;  he 


330  COMPENDIUM 

married  the  second  daughter  of  Auffray,  a  grocer  at  Provins ; 
by  her  he  had  Pierrette,  and  died  without  fortune  on  the  field 
of  battle,  at  Montereau,  February  i8,  1814  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Lorrain,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing  and  Pierrette's 
mother;  nee  Auffray  in  1793;  half-sister  of  the  mother  of 
Sylvie  and  Denis  Rogron,  Provins.  In  1814,  a  widow,  poor 
and  yet  very  young,  she  withdrew  from  the  home  of  the  Lor- 
rains,  at  Pen-Hoel,  to  Marais  in  Vendee,  where,  so  it  was 
said,  she  was  consoled  by  an  ex-major  of  the  Catholic  army, 
Brigaut ;  she  only  survived  three  years  after  the  sad  marriage 
of  Mme.  Neraud,  the  widow  of  Auffray,  the  maternal  grand- 
mother of  Pierrette  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Lorrain,  Pierrette,  daughter  of  the  foregoing,  born  in 
the  market-town  of  Pen-Hoel  in  1813.  Orphaned  of  her 
father  at  four  months,  and  her  mother  when  six  years  of  age. 
She  had  an  adorable  nature,  delicate  and  spontaneous.  After 
a  happy  childhood  passed  with  her  excellent  grandparents 
and  a  young  companion,  Jacques  Brigaut,  she  was  sent  to  her 
cousins-german  of  Provins,  the  wealthy  Rogrons,  who  became 
her  unconscious  tyrants.  Pierrette  died  on  Easter  Tuesday, 
March,  1828,  from  an  illness  caused  by  the  brutality  of  her 
cousin,  Sylvie  Rogron,  who  had  conceived  a  ferocious  jealousy 
of  her.  A  judicial  trial  against  her  murderers  followed  this 
event,  but,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  old  Mme.  Lorrain,  Jacques 
Brigaut,  Martener,  Desplein,  and  Bianchon,  this  was  foiled  by 
the  influence  cunningly  exercised  by  Vinet  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Louchard,  the  most  skillful  of  the  commercial  police  in 
Paris ;  he  was  commissioned  by  Frederic  de  Nucingen  to  find 
Esther  van  Gobseck,  who  had  escaped  him.  He  had  relations 
with  Maitre  Fraisier  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T— Cousin 
Pons,  05]. 

Louchard,  Madame,  the  separated  wife  of  the  foregoing; 
she  became  a  "  lorette,"  and  knew  Mme.  Komorn  de  Godollo, 
and,  about  1840,  gave  information  about  her  to  Theodose  de 
la  Peyrade  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  331 

Loudon,  Prince  de,  a  general  in  the  Vendean  cavalry; 
he  lived  at  the  Mans  during  the  Terror.  He  was  brother  to 
a  Verneuil  who  was  guillotined.  Was  famous  for  his  *'  hardi- 
hood "  [The  Chouans,  IB — Modeste  Mignon,  ^]. 

LfOudon,  Prince  Gaspard  de,  born  in  1791,  the  third 
son  and  only  surviving  child  of  fout  children  given  the  Due 
de  Verneuil ;  fat  and  commonplace,  he  pitifully  carried  the 
name  of  the  famous  cavalry  general ;  he  probably  became 
Desplein's  son-in-law.  In  1829  he  assisted  at  a  grand  hunt 
in  Normandy  with  the  Herouvilles,  the  Cadignans,  and  the 
Mignons  de  la  Bastie  [Modeste  Mignon,  ^]. 

Louis  XVIII.,  Louis-Stanislas-Xavier,  born  at  Ver- 
sailles, November  16,  1754;  died  September  16,  1824,  King 
of  France.  He  was  in  political  correspondence  with  Alphonse 
de  Montauran,  Malin  de  Gondreville,  and,  some  time  before 
this,  under  the  name  of  Comte  de  Lille,  with  Baronne  de  la 
Chanterie.  He  appreciated  the  police-spy  Peyrade,  whom  he 
protected.  King  Louis  XVIII. ,  as  the  friend  of  Comte  de 
Fontaine,  took  Felix  de  Vandenesse  as  his  secretary.  His 
last  mistress  was  the  Comtesse  Ferraud  [The  Chouans,  J5 — 
The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T — A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — 
The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— The  Sceaux  Ball,  i«— The  Lily 
of  the  Valley,  L — Colonel  Chabert,  i, — Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Louise,  toward  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe, 
chambermaid  to  Mme.  W.  Steinbock,  Rue  Louis-le-Grand, 
Paris;  courted  by  Hulot  d'Ervy's  cook  at  the  time  when 
Agathe  Piquetard,  who  became  the  second  Baronne  Hulot, 
was  dismissed  from  his  service  [Cousin  Betty,  w^ 

Lourdois,  during  the  Empire  a  wealthy  master  painter  of 
buildings.  During  the  Restoration  he  had  an  income  of 
thirty  thousand  francs;  he  was  a  Liberal  in  politics.  He 
sought  for  payment  for  his  work  which  he  had  done  in  the 
famous  decorations  of  Cesar  Birotteau's  apartments,  and  was 
invited,  together  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  to  the  famous  ball, 
December  17,  i8i8;  later  he  coolly  welcomed  the  perfumer 


332  COMPENDIUM 

after  his  failure  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t — C6sar 
Birotteau,  O]. 

Lousteau,  a  substitute  judge  at  Issoudun,  and  successively 
the  intimate  friend  and  enemy  of  Dr.  Rouget,  because  it  was 
possible  that  he  was  the  father  of  Mile.  Agathe  Rouget,  who 
became  Mme.  Bridau.  Lousteau  died  in  1800  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  J\ 

Lousteau,  Etienne,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  born  at  San- 
cerre  in  1799 ;  nephew  of  Maximilienne  Hochon,  nee  Lousteau. 
Impelled  into  a  sort  of  literary  vocation,  he  sought  his  fortune 
in  Paris  about  1819;  he  made  a  beginning  with  poetry,  and 
was  the  collaborator  of  Victor  Ducange  in  a  melodrama  pre- 
sented on  the  Gaite  stage  in  182 1.  He  took  the  editorship 
of  a  petty  theatrical  newspaper  of  which  Andoche  Finot  was 
the  owner.  He  then  had  two  residences :  one  in  the  Latin 
quarter,  Rue  du  la  Harpe,*  over  the  Cafe  Servel ;  the  other 
situated  on  the  Rue  de  Bondy,  the  house  of  Florine,  his  mis- 
tress. He  was  at  one  time,  through  no  fault  of  his,  the  fellow- 
guest  of  Daniel  d' Arthez  at  Flicoteaux's,  and  oftener  of  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  whom  he  addressed  and  piloted  to  Dauriat 
and  introduced  to  that  man,  who  congratulated  him  on  his 
first  attempt,  but  regretted  that  he  was  unable  to  serve  him. 
For  a  payment  of  one  thousand  francs  a  month,  Lousteau  dis- 
encumbered Philippe  Bridau  of  his  wife,  Flore  Bridau,  and 
threw  her  into  the  society  of  prostitutes.  He  was  at  the 
opera-ball,  1824,  on  the  evening  when  Blondet,  Bixiou,  Ras- 
tignac,  Jacques  Collin,  Chatelet,  and  Mme.  d'Espard  surprised 
Lucien  de  Rubempre  with  Esther  van  Gobseck.  Lousteau 
wrote  skits,  little  romances,  made  the  criticisms,collaborated  on 
divers  reviews,  and  had  a  gazette  with  Raoul  Nathan ;  he  then 
lived  on  the  Rue  des  Martyrs  and  was  Mme.  Schontz's  lover. 
He  had  some  thoughts  of  being  elected  deputy  for  Sancerre ; 
he  kept  up  a  long  liaison  with  Dinah  de  la  Baudraye ;  failed 
in  his  efforts  to  marry  Mme.  Berthier — then  Felicie  Cardot ; 
*  This  street  has  been  much  shortened. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  333 

had  children  by  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  and  wrote  of  the  birth 
of  the  eldest  as  follows:  "Mme.  la  Baronne  de  La  Baudraye 
is  happily  delivered  of  a  son.  M.  Etienne  Lousteau  has  the 
pleasure  of  informing  you  of  the  fact.  The  mother  and  child 
are  doing  well."  During  this  liaison,  Lousteau  for  the  sum  of 
five  hundred  francs  wrote  a  discourse  on  a  horticultural  exposi- 
tion for  Fabien  du  Ronceret.  He  is  seen  at  Mme.  Brisetout's, 
on  the  Rue  Chauchat,  hanging  around  the  soup  pot ;  he  ob- 
jected to  the  end  or  the  moral  of  the  **  Prince  of  Bohemia," 
written  by  Dinah  and  Nathan.  When  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye 
left  him  Lousteau  continued  on  in  the  same  life;  it  was 
scarcely  changed.  He  heard  Maitre  Desroches  tell  of  an 
exploit  of  Cerizet's ;  saw  Mme.  Marneffe  married  to  Crevel ; 
managed  the  "  Echo  de  la  Bidvre  "  ;  and  partook  the  manage- 
ment of  a  theatre  with  Ridal,  the  vaudevilliste  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  JSfl — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^-A  Daugh- 
ter of  Eve,  F^— Beatrix,  JP — Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — 
Cousin  Betty,  w — A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF — A  Man  of 
Business,  I — The  Middle  Classes,  ee — The  Unconscious 
Mummers,  li\. 

Lousteau-Prangin,  a  distant  relation  of  the  foregoing 
ones  of  the  former  name.  About  1822  a  judge  in  the  court 
at  Issoudun  ;  the  father  of  one  son  ;  a  friend  of  Maxence  Gilet 
and  probably  one  of  the  Knights  of  Idlesse  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,  J~\. 

Lovelace,  the  name  of  two  fictitious  personages  in  "  I'Am- 
bitieux  par  Amour,"  an  autobiographical  novel  by  Albert 
Savarus,  published,  under  Louis-Philippe,  in  "  la  Revue  de 
I'Est"  [Albert  Savaron,/]. 

Lucas  was  for  a  long  time  in  the  Estorades'  service  [Let- 
ters of  Two  Brides,  v — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DD^. 

Luigia,  a  young  and  beautiful  woman  in  the  suburbs  of 
Rome,  wife  of  Benedetto,  who  pretended  to  sell  her.  She 
would  have  killed  both  herself  and  him,  but  she  was  saved. 
Charles  de  Sallenauve  (Dorlange)  protected  her,  and  received 


334  COMPENDIUM 

her  when  she  became  a  widow ;  she  was  his  housekeeper  at 
Paris  about  1839.  Luigia  left  her  benefactor,  slander  having 
attacked  their  reciprocally  innocent  situation.  A  born  musi- 
cian, endowed  with  a  magnificent  voice,  she  embarked  on  a 
lyrical  career  after  an  attempt  in  Saint-Sulpice's  Church. 
She  was  welcomed  with  acclamation  at  the  Italian  opera- 
house,  London  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2>1>_,  'E1E\ 

Lupeaulx,  Clement  Chardin  des,  administrator  and 
politician;  born  about  1785;  ennobled  under  Louis  XV.; 
his  arms  showed  a  wolf  rampant ,  sable  on  a  field  oi gules — the 
motto  being :  En  lupus  in  historia.  An  ambitious  man, 
nearly  every  extreme  met  in  his  compromises  \  he  rendered 
himself  useful  to  Louis  XVIIL  in  very  delicate  circumstances. 
Numerous  influential  members  of  the  aristocracy  confided  their 
embarrassed  affairs  to  his  skillful  management.  He  served  as 
the  intermediary  between  the  Due  de  Navarreins  and  Polydore 
Milaud  de  la  Baudraye,  and  became  a  sort  of  power  which 
seemed  to  Annette  to  frighten  Charles  Grandet.  He  accu- 
mulated both  functions  and  grades:  was  master  of  requests  to 
the  council  of  State,  secretary-general  to  the  minister  of 
finance,  colonel  in  the  National  Guard ;  a  member  of  the 
King's  household,  he  was,  most  of  all,  a  chevalier  of  Saint- 
Louis  and  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  A  brazen 
Voltairean',  he  went  to  mass ;  a  Bertrand  always  searching  for 
a  Raton.  Egotistical  and  vain,  a  libertine  and  gourmand,  this 
man  of  spirit  was  very  handy  in  all  aff'airs  of  the  world,  a  sort 
of  "housekeeper"  to  the  ministry  ever  to  the  front  in  pleas- 
ure and  care,  in  1825  ;  he  made  gallant  conquests  and  aimed 
at  political  fortune.  Esther  van  Gobseck  and  Flavie  Colle- 
ville  are  known  to  have  been  mistresses  of  his ;  perhaps  also 
the  Marquise  d'Espard.  We  see  him  at  the  opera-ball,  where 
he  saluted  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  in  the  winter  of  1824.  The 
life  of  the  secretary-general  became  somewhat  modified  at  the 
end  of  that  year.  Crippled  with  debts,  in  the  power  of  Gob- 
seck, Bidault,  and  Mitral,  he  was  constrained  to  give  one  gf 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  335 

the  divisions  in  the  Treasury  to  Isidore  Baudoyer,  in  spite  of 
his  heart's  desire  of  ingratiating  himself  in  Rabourdin's  house- 
hold, but  he  gained  thereby  a  count's  coronet  and  a  seat  as 
deputy.  His  ambition  was  for  the  peerage,  to  be  entitled  a 
gentleman  of  the  King's  bedchamber,  become  a  member  of 
the  Academy,  and  obtain  the  cross  of  commander.  As  a 
friend  of  Vicomte  Savinien  de  Portenduere,  in  the  time  of 
his  distress,  he  interceded  with  the  usurers,  whom  he  knew, 
not  to  press  that  young  man  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CO — 
Eugenie  Grandet,  J5J — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J^ — 
A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  JSL — Lost  Illusions,  'N — 
The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— Ursule  Mirouet,  S^\ 

LrUpeaulx,  Des,  nephew  of  the  preceding,  and,  thanks  to 
him,  appointed,  in  1821,  a  sub-prefect  at  Ville-aux-Fayes,  in 
the  department  successively  administered  by  Martial  de  la 
Roche-Hugon  and  Casteran.  Probably  Gaubertin's  son-in- 
law  ;  wedded  to  the  interests  of  his  future  family  connections, 
M.  des  Lupeaulx  was  unfriendly  to  Montcornet,  the  owner  of 
the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  _R]. 

Lupin,  born  in  1778,  son  of  the  Soulanges'  last  steward  ; 
in  his  turn  manager  of  their  estates;  notary  and  deputy- 
mayor  of  the  town  of  Soulanges.  Although  married  and 
having  a  family,  M.  Lupin  was  well  enough  preserved  to  still 
shine  brilliantly,  about  1823,  in  Mme.  Soudry's  salon,  where 
he  was  famous  for  his  counter-tenor  voice  and  pretentious  gal- 
lantry; the  latter  was  borne  out  by  two  liaisons  with  middle- 
class  women,  Mme.  Sarcus,  wife  of  Sarcus  le  Riche,  and  Eu- 
phemie  Plissoud  [The  Peasantry,  _R]. 

Lupin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  called  "Bebelle." 
The  only  daughter  of  a  salt-merchant  who  became  wealthy 
during  the  Revolution  ;  she  was  platonically  loved  by  Bon- 
nac,  his  head  clerk.  Mme.  Lupin  was  fat,  ill-made,  very 
commonplace,  and  of  little  intelligence  ;  so  she  was  neglected 
in  the  Soudry  salon  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Lupin,  Amaury,  the  only  son  of  the  foregoing;  perhaps 


336  COMPENDIUM 

the  lover  of  Adeline  Sarcus,  who  became  Mme.  Adolphe  Sibi- 
let;  was  on  the  point  of  marrying  one  of  Gaubertin's  daugh- 
ters, but  she,  without  doubt,  desired  and  obtained  M.  des 
Lupeaulx.  Between  that  liaison  and  his  matrimonial  designs, 
Amaury  Lupin  was  sent  to  Paris  by  the  paternal  commands, 
in  order  to  there  study  in  Maitre  Crottat's  office ;  there  he 
had  Georges  Marest  as  fellow-clerk  and  comrade ;  the  two 
ran  into  follies  and  debts  in  1822.  Amaury  accompanied 
him  to  the  Silver  Lion,  Rue  d'Enghien,  faubourg  Saint- 
Denis,  when  Marest  took  Pierrotin's  carriage  ;  they  met  Oscar 
Husson  and  made  merry  about  him.  The  year  following, 
Amaury  Lupin  returned  to  Soulanges  [The  Peasantry,  JS — 
A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

M 

Machillot,  Madame,  kept  a  modest  table  d'hdte  in  Notre- 
Dame-des-Champs  quarter,  Paris,  1838.  Here  Godefroid  in- 
tended dining,  for  it  was  near  Bourlac's  residence  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Macumer,  Felipe  Henarez,  Baron  de,  a  Spaniard  of 
Moorish  origin,  of  whom  Talleyrand  furnished  much  informa- 
tion. He  had  of  right  the  following  titles  and  designations : 
Henarez,  of  the  Dues  de  Soria,  Baron  de  Macumer.  He 
never  carried  these  full  titles,  for  his  youth  was  one  succession 
of  devotion,  sacrifices,  and  unjust  charges.  Macumer,  one  of 
the  authors  of  the  Spanish  revolution  of  1823,  saw  this  turned 
against  him  :  Ferdinand  VIL  was  reestablished  on  the  throne ; 
he  offered  himself  as  a  constitutional  minister,  without  having 
been  pardoned.  Confiscation  and  exile  followed,  and  Felipe 
sought  refuge  in  Paris,  where  he  had  mean  lodgings  on  the 
Rue  Hillerin-Bertin,*  where  he  became  a  Spanish  master  to 
support  himself,  in  spite  of  his  Sardinian  barony,  his  great 

*  A  portion  of  the   Rue  Bellechasse,  which  runs    from   the    Rue  de 
Crenelle  to  the  Rue  de  Varenne. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  337 

fiefs,  and  his  palace  at  Sassari.  His  heart  also  suffered ;  he 
worshiped  without  return  a  woman  who  loved  his  own  brother ; 
he  despoiled  himself  and  gave  his  all  to  them.  Under  the 
plain  name  of  Henarez,  he  became  Armande-Marie-Louise  de 
Chaulieu's  professor.  Macumer  was  smitten  with  his  pupil 
and  was  loved  in  return.  He  married  her  in  March,  1825. 
Alternatively  the  baron  lived  at  or  owned :  Chantepleurs 
chateau,  a  mansion  on  the  Rue  du  Bac,  and  la  Crampade, 
the  provincial  residence  of  Louis  de  I'Estorade.  The  foolish 
jealousy  of  Mme.  de  Macumer  poisoned  his  life  and  ruined 
Felipe's  health  ;  she  idolized  him  in  spite  of  his  characteristic 
ugliness.     He  died  in  1829  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  F]. 

Macumer,  Baronne  de.     See  Gaston,  Madame  Marie. 

Madeleine,  Theodore  Calvi's  significant  nickname. 

Madeleine,  the  name  given  by  Vinet  to  each  of  his  ser- 
vants [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z — Cousin  Pons,  x\ 

Madou,  Angelique,  a  fat,  passionate  woman,  *'one  of 
the  people,"  and,  although  quite  ignorant,  expert  in  her 
trade  in  dried  fruits.  She  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  Resto- 
ration on  the  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin,*  Paris,  where  she  became 
the  prey  of  Bidault  (Gigonnet),  the  usurer.  Angelique  Madou 
once  berated  Cesar  Birotteau  on  account  of  his  broken  engage- 
ments; but  she  afterward  congratulated  him,  when  the  per- 
fumer was  rehabilitated,  after  paying  his  indebtedness  in  full 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Magalhens,  a  notable  family  of  Douai,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  nineteenth  century  [The  Quest  of  the  Abso- 
lute, !>]. 

Magnan,  Prosper,  Beauvais.  The  son  of  a  widow ;  mili- 
tary doctor;  executed  in  1799,  at  Andernach,  on  the  Rhine 
border,  as  the  author  of  a  double  crime — theft  and  murder — 
and  of  which  he  was  innocent,  in  spite  of  appearances  to  the 
contrary ;  the  crime  was  committed  by  his  companion,  Jean- 

*  This  street,  which  was  situated  near  the  Rue  de  la  Lingerie,  has  disap- 
peared. 
22 


S38  COMPENDIUM 

Frederic  Taillefer,  who  remained  unpunished  [The  Red 
House,  <f]. 

Magnan,  Madame,  mother  of  the  foregoing;  she  lived  at 
Beauvais,  where  she  died  some  time  after  her  son's  death,  and 
before  the  arrival  of  a  letter  sent  through  Hermann's  hands 
by  Prosper  [The  Red  House,  e?]. 

Mahoudeau,  Madame,  caused  trouble  with  her  friend, 
Mme.  Cardinal,  at  a  performance  in  the  Bobino,  a  little 
theatre  situated  near  the  Luxembourg,  in  which  Olympe  Car- 
dinal was  recognized  by  her  mother  as  the  "leading  lady" 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Magus,  Elie,  an  Israelite  of  Flanders,  of  Holland-Belgic 
origin;  born  in  1770.  He  lived  alternately  at  Bordeaux  and 
Paris.  He  bought  valuable  objects,  paintings,  diamonds,  and 
curiosities.  Through  him  Mme.  Luigi  Porta,  nee  Ginevra  di 
Piombo,  obtained  employment  as  a  colorist  with  a  dealer  in 
engravings.  Mme.  Evangelista  employed  him  to  value  her 
jewels.  He  ordered  a  copy  of  a  Rubens  from  Joseph  Bridau, 
and  of  Flemish  subjects  from  Pierre  Grassou ;  he  sold  them  to 
Vervelle  as  genuine  Rembrandts  and  Teniers.  He  arranged 
Pierre  Grassou's  marriage  with  the  butcher's  daughter.  Very 
wealthy,  he  retired  from  business  about  1835,  having  left  his 
former  abode  on  the  Boulevard  Bonne-Nouvelle  to  occupy  an 
old  mansion  on  the  Chaussee  des  Minimes,*  together  with  his 
treasures  and  his  daughter  Noemi,  guarded  by  Abramko. 
Elie  Magus  still  lived  there  about  1845,  ^"^  ^^^  acquired,  in 
some  underhand  way,  much  of  the  superb  collection  which 
had  been  Sylvan  Pons'  [The  Vendetta,  i — A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, aa — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  eJ^Pierre  Gras- 
sou, r — Cousin  Pons,  QC\. 

Mahuchet,  Madame,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  a 
women's  shoemaker;  *' a  person  with  a  bad  mouth,"  accord- 
ing to  Mme.  Nourrisson ;  the  mother  of  seven  children. 
After  having  vainly  dunned  n  countess  for  one  hundred  francs 
*  Now  the  Rue  de  B6arn. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  339 

due  her,  she  thought  to  surprise  the  debtor  one  evening  and 
hoped  thus  to  get  her  money;  she  was  given  some  silver 
candlesticks,  but  these  were  promptly  returned,  as  they  were 
only  plated  ware  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  xi\. 

Malaga,  Marguerite  Turquet's  pseudonym. 

Malassis,  Jeanne,  about  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  the 
country  servant  of  Pingret,  an  old,  rich,  and  miserly  peasant 
in  the  suburbs  of  Limoges.  Mortally  stricken  as  she  went  to 
the  rescue  of  her  master,  who  was  killed  and  pillaged ;  she 
was  J.  F.  Tascheron's  second  victim  [The  Country  Parson,  JP^ 

Malfatti,  a  doctor  at  Venice;  in  1820  was  called  in  con- 
sultation with  one  of  his  French  colleagues  to  examine  Due 
Cataneo  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff\ 

Malin.     See  Gondreville. 

Mallet,  a  gendarme  in  the  department  of  the  Orne,  1809. 
He  was  directed  to  discover  and  arrest  Mme.  Bryond  des 
Minieres;  he  allowed  her  to  fly,  with  the  complicity  of  his 
comrade  Ratel ;  he  was  imprisoned  for  this,  and  Mallet  was 
declared  by  Bourlac  to  be  liable  to  capital  punishment  for  his 
offense ;  he  was  executed  the  same  year  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T]. 

Malvaut,  Jenny.     See  Derville,  Madame. 

Mancini,  De,  an  Italian  effeminate  blonde,  who  was  fool- 
ishly smitten  by  la  Marana,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter, 
Juana-Pepita-Maria  de  Mancini;  she  became  Mme.  Diard 
[The  Maranas,  e\. 

Mancini,  Juana-Pepita-Maria  de.     See  Diard,  Madame. 

Manerville,  De;  born  in  173 1.  A  Norman  gentleman 
to  whom  the  governor  of  la  Guyenne,  Richelieu,  had  one  of 
the  wealthiest  heiresses  of  Bordeaux  married.  He  bought  the 
post  of  major  of  the  guards  of  the  gate  about  the  end  of  Louis 
XV. 's  reign.  By  his  wife  he  had  one  son,  Paul,  whom  he 
strictly  raised ;  an  emigrant  during  the  Revolution ;  he 
reached  Martinique,  but  saved  his  estate,  Lanstrac,  etc., 
thanks  to  Maitre  Mathias,  then  his  notary's  head  clerk.     He 


340  COMPENDIUM 

was  a  widower  since  1810;  Manerville  died  about  181 3  [A 
Marriage  Settlement,  aa\ 

Manerville,  Paul-Francois- Joseph,  Comte  de,  son  of 
the  foregoing;  born  in  1794;  studied  in  the  college  of  Ven- 
dome  until  1810,  the  year  of  his  mother's  death.  He  passed 
three  years  with  his  father  in  Bordeaux,  who  had  become 
despotic  and  miserly.  Orphaned,  he  was  heir  to  an  immense 
fortune — the  castle  of  Lanstrac  at  Gironde  and  a  mansion  in 
Paris,  Rue  de  la  Pepiniere.  He  traveled  Europe  for  six  years 
as  a  diplomat  until  his  vacation,  which  he  spent  in  Paris ;  he 
was  intimate  with  Henri  de  Marsay,  the  lover  of  Paquita 
Vald^s ;  he  submitted  to  the  mockeries  of  Mme.  Charles  de 
Vandenesse,  then  Emilie  de  Fontaine ;  he  possibly  met  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  and  in  the  winter  of  1821  returned  to  Bordeaux, 
where  he  shone  brilliantly  in  society;  Paul  de  Manerville  was 
given  the  characteristic  nickname  of  "Sweet  Pea."  In  spite 
of  the  good  advice  of  his  two  most  devoted  friends,  Mathias 
and  de  Marsay,  he  asked,  by  the  mouth  of  his  great-aunt,  Mme. 
de  Maulincour,  for  the  hand  of  Natalie  Evangel ista  and  was 
successful.  Five  years  after  the  marriage  he  separated  from  his 
wife  and  embarked  for  Calcutta  under  the  name  of  Camille, 
one  of  his  mother's  surnames  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes, 
ds,  H. — The  Sceaux  Ball,  u — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  "M. — A  Marriage  Settlement,  aa]. 

Manerville,  Comtesse  Paul  de,  wife  of  the  preceding ; 
nee  Natalie  Evangelista,  of  a  family  indirectly  descended 
from  the  Due  d'Albe ;  she  was  also  allied  to  the  Claes.  As 
gay  and  frolicsome  as  a  young  girl,  coldness  yet  dominated 
her  nature ;  she  despoiled  her  husband,  unknown  to  him,  and 
shone  more  brilliantly  in  Paris  than  she  had  in  Bordeaux. 
Become  the  mistress  of  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  she  welcomed 
with  a  bad  grace  the  dedication  of  a  recital  in  which  he  ex- 
alted Mme.  de  Mortsauf;  and  soon  after,  in  concert  with 
Lady  Dudley,  Mesdames  d'Espard,  Charles  de  Vandenesse, 
and  de  Listomdre,  she  tried  to  throw  Comtesse  Felix  de  Van- 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  341 

denesse,  then  a  bride,  into  Raoul  Nathan's  arms  [A  Marriage 
Settlement,  aa — The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i — A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  F]. 

Manette,  under  the  Restoration,  at  Clochegourde,  Tour- 
aine,  the  Comtesse  de  Mortsaufs  housekeeper;  she  alone 
looked  after  young  Madeleine  and  Jacques  de  Mortsauf  [The 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Manon.     See  Godard,  Manon. 

Manon-la-Blonde,  during  the  last  years  of  the  Restora- 
tion a  street-walker  at  Paris,  who  foolishly  fell  in  love  with 
Theodore  Calvi ;  she  became  the  receiver  of  stolen  goods, 
the  theft  being  complicated  with  assassination,  committed  by 
Jacques  Collin's  companion,  and  which  led  indirectly  and 
involuntarily  to  the  arrest  of  the  Corsican  [Vautrin's  Last 
Avatar,  z\. 

Manseau,  Father,  an  innkeeper  at  the  Echelles,  a  Savoy 
market-town,  who  welcomed  la  Fosseuse,  reduced  to  beggary, 
and  lodged  that  unfortunate  in  a  barn — she  afterward  became 
Benassis'  protege  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Marana,  La,  born  in  1772,  the  last  of  a  long  line  of 
courtesans,  all  bearing  the  same  name ;  a  natural  descendant 
of  the  Herouvilles.  She  knew  Mancini  for  the  love  of  money ; 
he  was  the  Due  de  Lina,  a  king  of  Naples ;  she  shone  in 
Venice,  Milan,  and  Naples.  By  Mancini  she  had  a  child, 
Juana-Pepita-Maria,  whom  he  acknowledged.  She  was  placed 
with  the  Lagounias,  who  were  under  obligations  to  her,  to  be 
piously  brought  up,  in  1808.  She  surprised  her  when  locked 
in  a  room  with  Montefiore ;  she  disdained  to  have  revenge  on 
him,  but  accepted  F.  Diard  as  a  husband  for  the  young  girl, 
who  had  proposed  for  her  hand.  About  1832,  at  the  time 
when  she  was  in  the  hospital  at  Bordeaux,  la  Marana  again 
saw  her  daughter ;  she  was  living  virtuously,  but  was  still  un- 
happy [The  Hated  Son,  ^ — The  Maranas,  e\. 

Marcas,  Zephirin,  born  about  1803,  a  Breton,  of  a  Vitre 
family ;  his  parents  had  little  means  and  he  was  their  main 


342  COMPENDIUM 

support;  he  was  educated  gratuitously  at  the  seminary,  but 
had  no  liking  to  become  a  priest.  He  embarked  for  Paris 
with  but  little  money,  and  in  the  year  1823  or  1824  was  in  an 
attorney's  office,  in  which  he  became  head  clerk.  He  studied 
men  and  manners  in  five  capitals:  London,  Vienna,  Peters- 
burg, Constantinople,  and  Berlin.  For  five  years  he  was  a 
journalist  and  "  did  the  Chambers."  He  frequented  la  Pal- 
ferine  ;  in  regard  to  women,  he  had  a  passionate,  timid  manner 
with  them.  With  the  head  of  a  lion,  a  magnificent  organiza- 
tion, the  equal  of  Berryer  as  an  orator,  and  surpassing  M. 
Thiers,  Marcas  was  for  a  long  time  employed  in  a  political 
capacity  by  a  deputy  of  a  former  ministry,  but,  convinced  of 
his  disloyalty,  he  turned  against  him.  On  his  reentry  into 
polemics  he  was  again  sought.  He  lived  most  wretchedly  in 
a  garret  on  a  budget  of  thirty  sous,  which  he  earned  by  law- 
writing.  His  garret  was  situated  in  a  furnished-room  house 
on  the  Rue  Corneille,  1836.  Unless  he  had  been  cordially 
urged  by  his  young  neighbors  Rabourdin  and  Juste,  who 
furnished  the  fitting  clothing  for  him,  he  would  have  refused 
to  again  serve  the  minister  who  had  acted  ungratefully  to  him, 
and  who  now  sought  his  aid  anew.  His  return  was  not  of 
long  duration.  The  government's  third  fall  threw  down 
Marcas  also ;  he  returned  to  the  Rue  Corneille,  where  he  was 
taken  with  a  nervous  fever;  the  disease  was  aggravated  by 
his  genius  and  it  carried  him  off.  Z.  Marcas  was  buried  in 
the  common  grave  in  Montparnasse  cemetery,  January,  1838 
[A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF—Z.  Marcas,  m]. 

Marcelin  was  an  attorney  at  Arcis-sur-Aube  during  the 
electoral  period  opening  in  April,  1839,  in  the  arrondissement 
until  then  represented  by  Francois  Keller  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  I>D\ 

Marchand,  Victor,  son  of  a  grocer  in  Paris ;  major  of  a 
battalion  of  infantry  during  the  campaign  of  1808;  the  lover 
of  and  under  obligations  to  Clara  Leganes,  he  vainly  tried  to 
marry  that  daughter  of  the  Spanish  nobility,  who  preferred 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  343 

rather  to  submit  to  the  most  horrible  of  deaths.  She  was  de- 
capitated by  the  hand  of  Juanito  Leganes,  her  brother  [The 
Executioner,  e\. 

Marche-a-Terre.     See  Leroi,  Pierre. 

Marcillac,  Madame  de.  Thanks  to  her  knowledge  of 
the  members  of  the  old  Court  and  her  relations  with  the 
Rastignacs,  of  whom  she  was  the  modest  guest,  about  1819, 
she  was  able  to  introduce  to  her  brilliant  cousin,  Claire  de 
Beauseant,  the  Chevalier  de  Rastignac,  her  great-nephew,  for 
whom  she  had  a  failing  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Marcosini,  Comte  Andrea;  born  in  1807  at  Milan.  Al- 
though an  aristocrat  he  was  a  Liberal  refugee  in  Paris,  tempo- 
rarily only ;  a  poet,  handsome,  and  wealthy ;  he  was  happy  in 
his  life  of  exile  about  1834.  He  was  welcomed  by  Mesdames 
d'Espard  and  Paul  de  Manerville.  On  the  Rue  Froidmanteau 
he  pursued  Marianna  Gambara  to  the  iabk  d'hdte  of  an  Italian, 
Girardini ;  he  delivered  a  lengthy  dissertation  on  music  and 
spoke  of  *'  Robert  le  Diable."  For  five  years  Gambara's  wife 
was  his  mistress,  then  he  deserted  her  to  marry  an  Italian 
dancer  [Gambara,  hh\ 

Marechal,  under  the  Restoration  an  attorney  at  Ville-aux- 
Fayes,  Montcornet's  adviser;,  by  his  recommendation  he  con- 
tributed to  the  appointment,  about  181 7,  of  Sibilet  as  steward 
at  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Mareschal,  director  of  the  studies  at  the  college  of  Ven- 
dome,  181 1,  when  Louis  Lambert  became  a  pupil  at  that  house 
of  information  [Louis  Lambert,  le]. 

Marest,  Frederic,  born  about  1802,  son  of  the  rich  widow 
of  a  lumber  merchant ;  cousin  of  Georges  Marest;  clerk  to  an 
attorney  at  Paris,  November,  1825  ;  the  lover  of  Florentine 
Cabirolle,  who  was  kept  by  Cardot ;  he  knew  at  Maitre  Des- 
roches'  Oscar  Husson  and  had  him  as  a  guest,  at  a  fete  given 
by  Mile.  Cabirolle,  Rue  de  Vendome,  where  his  companion 
foolishly  compromised  himself  [A  Start  in  Life,  5].  Frederic 
Marest  passed  in  1838  as  a  judge  of  instruction  in  the  Parisian 


344  COMPENDIUM 

courts ;  he  questioned  Augusta  de  Mergi  about  a  theft  com- 
mitted to  the  prejudice  of  Dr.  Halpersohn  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T\  The  following  year  he  was  public  prosecutor 
at  Arcis-sur-Aube  ;*  he  was  still  a  bachelor  when  he  met  Mar- 
tener  junior,  Goulard,  Michu,  Vinet ;  he  frequented  the  Beau- 
visage  and  MoUot  families  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  jD2>]. 

Marest,  Georges,  cousin  of  the  foregoing,  and  whose 
father  was  the  head  of  a  great  hardware  firm.  Rue  Saint- 
Martin,  Paris.  In  1822  he  was  Maitre  A.  Crottat's  second 
clerk,  his  companion  in  the  office  being  Amaury  Lupin. 
About  the  same  year  Marest's  silly  vanity  caused  him  to  depict 
a  fictitious  career  in  Pierrotin's  vehicle,  when  he  was  on  his 
way  to  the  valley  of  the  Oise.  He  mystified  Husson,  amused 
Bridau  and  Marest,  but  was  tiring  to  Comte  de  Serizy.  Three 
years  later  Georges  Marest  had  become  managing  clerk  to  Leo- 
pold Hannequin ;  but  he  lost  his  fortune  of  thirty  thousand 
francs  of  income  in  debauchery,  and  finished  by  becoming  an 
insurance  solicitor  [The  Peasantry,  ^ — A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Margaritis,  of  Italian  origin,  located  at  Vouvray,  1831 ; 
an  old,  deranged  man ;  he  pretended  to  be  a  vine-grower  and 
banker.  He  was  made  use  of  by  Vernier  to  mystify  Gaudissart 
during  a  commercial  trip  of  the  illustrious  drummer  [Gau- 
dissart the  Great,  o]. 

Margaritis,  Madame,  wife  of  the  lunatic  Margaritis.  She 
looked  after  her  savings  for  economy's  sake,  and  aided  in 
mystifying  Gaudissart  [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o\. 

Marguerite,  born  in  1762,  ordinarily  called  Gritte;  she 
served  the  old  Hochons  at  Issoudun,  in  1822  [A  Bachelor's 
Establishment,t  J\ 

*  This  town  possessed  a  promenade,  the  Avenue  des  Soupirs,  where,  in 
1839,  the  colony  of  functionaries  frequently  congregated. 

f  Here  the  compilers  have  a  footnote  :  "  *  Un  Menage  de  Garcon  ' — A 
Bachelor's  Establishment — in  all  the  old  editions  of  the  Comedie  Humaine." 
This  is  called  for  by  the  fact  that  "  La  Rabouilleuse  "  is  always  used  by 
them  as  a  title.  It  has  also  been  published  as  "The  Two  Brothers." — 
Translator. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  345 

Marguerite,  a  nurse  at  Johann  Fischer's  House  [Cousin 
Betty,  w]. 

Margueron,  an  opulent  bourgeois  at  Beaumont-sur-Oise, 
under  Louis  XVIII.;  he  desired  for  his  son  the  place  of  tax- 
collector  in  that  town  particularly,  for  he  there  possessed  a 
farm  which  adjoined  the  Presles,  belonging  to  de  Serizy,  and 
the  tenant  of  which  was  Leger  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Marialva,  Dona  Concha,  the  duenna  attached  to  the  per- 
son of  Paquita  Valdes  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

Marianne,  Sophie  Gamard's  servant,  during  the  Restora- 
tion, at  Tours  [The  Abbe  Birotteau,  i]. 

Marianne,  about  October,  1803,  at  Cinq-Cygne,  arron- 
dissement  of  Arcis-sur-Aube,  a  servant  (at  the  same  time  as 
Gaucher)  of  the  Michus.  She  served  her  master  with  dis- 
cretion and  fidelity  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Mariast,  a  property  owner  at  Paris,  22  Rue  de  la  Mon- 
tagne-Sainte-Genevieve,  where  he  had  the  Messrs.  d'Espard  as 
tenants,  during  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Restoration  [The 
Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Marie-Jeanne,  Angelique  Madou's  servant,  Paris,  1818 
[Cesar  Birotteau, f  O]. 

Marie  des  Anges,  Mother,  born  in  1762;  Jacques 
Bricheteau's  aunt ;  superior  of  the  Ursulines  at  Arcis-sur-Aube; 
preserved  from  the  scaffold  by  Danton ;  each  year,  on  April  5th, 
she  had  celebrated  a  mass  in  memoriam.  Under  Louis- 
Philippe  her  nephew,  Charles  de  Sallenauve,  was  nominated 
and  elected  a  deputy,  largely  by  her  influence  in  the  arron- 
dissement  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>X)]. 

Mariette,  the  picturesque  and  gallant  name  of  Marie 
Godeschal. 

Mariette,  born  in  1798;  from  1817  in  the  service  of  the 
Wattevilles,  Besangon,  she,  under  Louis-Philippe,  was  courted, 

f  An  abbreviation  of  the  title  which,  in  the  Edition  Definitive  of  the 
Comedie  Humaine,  is  "  The  History  of  the  Rise  and  Fall  of  Cesar  Birot- 
teau."    This  novel  was  first  given  as  a  premium  by  two  Paris  journals. 


346  .  COMPENDIUM 

in  spite  of  her  ugliness,  because  of  her  savings,  by  Jerome, 
Albert  Savarus'  servant.  Mile,  de  Watteville,  who  was  smitten 
by  the  barrister,  exploited  Mariette  and  Jerome  to  the  benefit 
of  her  love  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Mariette,  about  1816,  Mile.  Corraon's  (Alengon)  cook; 
for  some  time  she  was  advised  by  du  Ronceret ;  she  was  still 
in  the  same  service  when  her  mistress  became  Mme.  du  Bous- 
quier  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Mariette  was  in  la  Fosseuse's  service  about  the  end  of  the 
Restoration,  in  the  village  of  which  Benassis  was  the  mayor 
[The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Mariette,  in  1841,  Rue  Plumet,  Paris,  was  Adeline  Hulot's 
cook  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Marigny,  Duchesse  de,  of  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain ; 
united  to  the  Navarreins  and  the  Grandlieus ;  a  woman  of 
counsel  and  experience ;  the  real  head  of  her  house.  She 
died  about  1819  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  6&]. 

Marigny,*  De,  son  of  the  preceding;  an  agreeable  but 
harebrained  man ;  the  lover  of  Mme.  Keller,  a  bourgeoise  of 
the  Chaussee-d'Antin  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  &6]. 

Marin,  Father,  in  1836,  an  old  Parisian  workman  whom 
Abbe  de  Veze  refused  to  assist  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Marin,  head-valet  to  Georges  de  Maufrigneuse,  and  the 
protector  of  Anicette,  at  Cinq-Cygne,  Arcis-sur-Aube,  1839 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>D]. 

Marion,  of  Arcis,  the  grandson  of  a  steward  of  the  Si- 
meuses;  brother-in-law  of  Mme.  Marion,  nee  Giguet.  He 
enjoyed  Malin's  confidence  and  acquired  for  him  the  Gondre- 
ville  estate.  He  became  a  barrister  in  the  Aube,  then  presi- 
dent of  an  Imperial  Court  [A  Historical  Mystery,  jj^ — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>X)]. 

*  In  a  previous  century  the  Marignys  owned  Rosembray,  before  it  was 
the  property  of  the  Verneuils.  It  was  a  large  domain,  and  in  1829  was 
the  scene  of  a  great  hunt,  at  which  the  Cadignans,  Chaulieus,  M.  de 
Caualis,  the  Mignons,  and  others  met. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  347 

Marion,  brother  of  the  foregoing  and  brother-in-law  of 
Colonel  Giguet,  who  married  his  sister,  and  became  by  Ma- 
lin's  influence  co-receiver-general,  with  Sibuelle,  of  the  Aube 
[A  Historical  Mystery,  ff—Hh.Q  Deputy  for  Arcis,  2)X)]. 

Marion,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  Colonel  Giguet's 
sister.  She  was  intimate  with  the  Malins  of  Gondreville ;  she 
survived  her  husband,  and,  leaving  Tours,  returned  to  her 
native  place,  Arcis,  where  she  held  drawing-rooms  which  were 
much  frequented.  Under  Louis-Philippe  Mme.  Marion  used 
her  influence  in  favor  of  Simon  Giguet,  son  of  the  colonel 
[A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DIJ]. 

Marion.     See  Kolb,  Madame. 

Mariotte,  a  Breton,  born  about  1794,  under  Louis-Philippe ; 
with  Gasselin  she  served  in  the  Guenic  family  at  Guerande 
[Beatrix,  _P]. 

Mariotte,  of  Auxerre;  a  rival  of  the  powerful  Gauber- 
tin  in  the  adjudication  of  the  forests  in  Bourgogne  depart- 
ment and  of  the  Aigues,  Montcornet's  estate  [The  Peasan- 
try, K]. 

Mariotte,  Madame,  of  Auxerre,  mother  of  the  preceding; 
she  had  in  her  service,  in  1823,  Mile.  Courtecuisse  [The 
Peasantry,  JS]. 

Marius,  a  surname  which  became  hereditary  of  a  Toulous- 
ain  who  established  a  "  tonsorial  palace  "  at  Paris  early  in  the 
nineteenth  century ;  it  was  so  baptized  by  the  Chevalier  de 
Parny,  one  of  the  customers.  He  transmitted  this  name  of 
Marius  as  the  property  in  perpetuity  of  his  successor  [The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  w]. 

Mari vault,  De,  a  wealthy  but  indifferent  man  of  letters; 
he  signed  a  work  written  by  M.  de  Valentin  junior  [The  Wild 
Ass'  Skin,  A]. 

Marmus,  Madame,  wife  of  a  scientist,  an  officer  in  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and  a  member  of  the  Institute.  She  resided 
with  him  in  the  Rue  Duguay-Trouin,  Paris,  and  frequented 
Zelie  Minard's  house  about  1840  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 


348  COMPENDIUM 

Marmus,  the  husband  of  the  foregoing  and  remarkable 
for  his  absence  of  mind  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

MarnefFe,  Jean-Paul-Stanislas,  born  in  1794,  an  em- 
ploye in  the  office  of  the  ministry  of  War.  When  simply  a 
clerk  with  a  salary  of  only  twelve  hundred  francs  he  married, 
about  1803,  Mile.  Valerie  Fortin.  As  *' corrupt  as  a  bagnio," 
he  left  the  Rue  du  Douenne  for  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain, 
where  his  wife  had  been  installed  by  her  lover,  Baron  Hulot ; 
by  whose  means  also  Marneffe  became  successively  first  clerk, 
sub-chief,  then  chief  of  a  bureau,  a  chevalier,  and  afterward 
officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  Jean-Paul-Stanislas  was  as 
"rotten  physically  as  morally."  He  died  in  May,  1842 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

MarnefFe,*  Madame.     See  Crevel,  Madame  Celestin. 

Marneffe,  Stanislas,  the  legal  son  of  the  two  foregoing; 
scrofulous  and  neglected  by  his  parents  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

MaroUes,  Abbe  de,  an  old  priest  of  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century ;  he  escaped  the  massacre  at  the  convent  of  the 
Carmellitesf  in  September,  1792.  He  concealed  himself  in 
Paris,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Martin,  near  the  German  road. 
He  was  there  the  protector  of  two  nuns  who  were  also  com- 
promised— Sister  Marthe  and    Sister   Agathe.      January   22, 

1793,  and  January  21,  1794,  the  abbe  said  a  mass  before  them 
for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of  Louis  XVL,  being  begged  to  do 
this  by  the  executioner  of  that  *' martyred  king,"  who  was 
also  present,  but  without  being  identified,  until  January  25, 

1794,  from  information  furnished  by  Citizen  Ragon,  at  the 
corner  of  the  Rue  des  FrondeursJ  [An  Episode  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  t\ 

*  In  1849  Clairville  presented  on  the  stage  of  the  Gymnase-Dramatique 
a  somewhat  modified  play  of  episodes  in  the  life  of  Mme.  Marneffe,  under 
the  double  title  of  "  Madaine  Marneffe,  or  the  Prodigal  Father,"  a  melo- 
drama in  five  acts. 

f  Situated  on  the.  Rue  Vaugirard ;  now  a  plain  chapel. 

\  This  has  disappeared.  It  was  near  the  Rues  I'Echelle,  Moineaux, 
and  Saint- Honor6. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  349 

Maronis,  Abbe  de,  a  priest  full  of  genius,  who  under  the 
tira  would  have  been  a  Borgia.  He  was  Henri  de  Marsay's 
preceptor,  and  made  his  pupil  an  absolute  skeptic  at  the  time 
when  the  church  was  in  a  ferment.  Abbe  de  Maronis  died  a 
bishop  in  1812  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds^  II.]. 

Marron,  under  the  Restoration  a  physician  at  Marsac, 
Charente;  nephew  of  the  Cure  Marron.  He  married  the 
daughter  of  Postel,  a  pharmacist,  Angouleme,  and  fre- 
quented the  Sechards  [Lost  Illusions,  N — The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y,  Z\ 

Marron,  cure  at  Marsac,  Charente,  under  the  Restoration ; 
he  preceded  the  above  in  that  office  [Lost  Illusions,  ^]. 

Marsay,  De,  an  old  gentleman  with  every  vice.  He  was 
married  by  Lord  Dudley  to  one  of  his  mistresses  and  acknowl- 
edged Dudley's  son  Henri ;  he  received  one  hundred  thousand 
francs  in  depreciated  money  for  doing  this;  he  speedily  dissi- 
pated the  money  in  riotous  living,  confiding  the  child  to  his 
old  sister.  Mile,  de  Marsay.  He  died,  as  he  had  lived,  apart 
from  his  wife  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds^  II.]. 

Marsay,  Madame  de.     See  Vordac,  Marquise  de. 

Marsay,  Mademoiselle  de,  sister  and  sister-in-law  of  the 
foregoing  ones.  She  took  care  of  Henri,  and  died  of  old  age 
[The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds^  II.]. 

Marsay,  Henri  de,  born  between  1792  and  1796 ;  son  of 
Lord  Dudley  and  the  noted  Marquise  de  Vordac,  her  first 
husband  being  de  Marsay,  who  acknowledged  the  child  as  his 
own,  and  so  became  its  legal  father.  Young  Henri  was  raised 
by  Mile,  de  Marsay  and  the  Abbe  de  Maronis;  he  was  friendly 
with  Paul  de  Manerville  in  1815  ;  he  was  at  that  time  one  of 
the  Thirteen  *  all-mighties,  together  with  Bourignard,  Mon- 
triveau,  and  Ronquerolles.  At  this  time  he  found  a  daughter 
of  Lesbosen,  Paquita  Valdes,  whom  he  wished  to  make  his 

*  Frederic  Sloulie's  drama:  "  La  Closerie  des  Genets,"  played  for  the 
first  time  at  the  Ambigu,  Paris,  October  14,  1846,  recalled  this  particular 
in  the  life  of  M.  de  Marsay. 


350  COMPENDIUM 

mistress;  he  recognized  her  at  once  as  his  own  natural  sis- 
ter and  also  Mme.  de  San-Real's,  who  was  the  only  rival  of 
Paquita.  Marsay  was  once  the  Duchesse  Charlotte's  (then 
Arabelle  Dudley)  lover,  whose  children  were  his  living  pic- 
tures. We  know  also  of  his  intimacy  with  Delphine  de  Nu- 
cingen,  which  was  ruptured  in  the  year  1819,  and  with  Diane 
de  Cadignan.  As  a  member  of  the  Thirteen,  Henri  had  a 
hand  in  the  enterprise  of  Montriveau  to  carry  off  Antoinette 
de  Langeais  from  the  Carmellite  nunnery.  He  bought  Coralie 
for  sixty  thousand  francs.  All  his  life,  under  the  Restoration, 
was  passed  about  equally  with  young  men  and  young  women. 
He  was  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon's  counselor  and  adviser,  and 
the  same  to  Savinien  de  Portendu^re,  and  more  so  to  Paul  de 
Manerville,  whom  he  vainly  tried  to  pilot  after  his  unhappy 
marriage.  Marsay  protected  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  and,  with 
Rastignac,  acted  as  his  second  in  his  duel  with  Michel  Chres- 
tien.  The  feminine  representatives  of  the  Chaulieu  and  Fon- 
taine families  admired  and  thought  well  of  Henri  de  Marsay, 
but  scorned  the  poet,  M.  de  Canalis.  The  Revolution  of 
July,  1830,  made  a  great  personage  of  Marsay,  who,  never- 
theless, at  Felicite  des  Touches'  spoke  of  his  past  amours.  In 
1832  and  1833  he  was  prime  minister  and  a  familiar  in  the 
Legitimist  salon  of  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan,  where  he  spoke 
of  the  Vendean  insurrection.  At  the  same  time  he  made 
known  the  reasons  for  Malin's  abduction  and  who  were  con- 
cerned therein.  Marsay  died  of  exhaustion  in  1834;  just 
before  this  occurred,  and  at  the  time  when  Nathan  paid  court 
to  Marie  de  Vandenesse,  the  statesman  had  predicted  this, 
and  scorned  the  writer  [The  Thirteen,  J5JB  (including  The 
Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds^  H.) — The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, u — Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — The  Lily  of  the 
Valley,  i — Father  Goriot,  6r — The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, aa — Ursule  Mirouet,  iT — A  Marriage  Settlement,  aa — 
A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilT — Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v — The  Sceaux  Ball,  u — Modeste  Mignon,  JEi — ^The 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  351 

Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z — A  Historical  Mys- 
tery, #— A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Martainville,  Alphonse-Louis-Dieudonne,  a  publicist 
and  dramatic  author;  born  in  1776,  at  Cadiz,  of  French 
parents;  died  August  27,  1830.  A  fanatic  Royalist,  who  in 
1821-22  advised  and  welcomed  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  then  an 
apostate  from  Liberalism  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M\ 

Martellens,  a  scientist  who  was  cited  by  Lavrille  the 
naturalist  before  Raphael  de  Valentin  for  the  origin  of  the 
word  "chagrin"  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Martener,  a  learned  old  man,  living  at  Provins,  under  the 
Restoration ;  he  explained  to  the  archaeologist  Desfondrilles, 
who  consulted  him,  why  indolent  Europe  disdained  the  min- 
eral waters  of  their  town  and  went  to  Spa,  where,  according 
to  French  doctors,  they  were  less  efficacious  [Pierrette,  t]. 

Martener,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  second  daugh- 
ter of  Mme.  Guen6e ;  sister  of  Mme.  Auffray.  She  had  pity 
for  Pierrette  Lorrain,  who  was  ill,  and,  in  1828,  gave  her  the 
distractions  of  music,  playing  to  her  selections  from  Weber, 
Beethoven,  and  Herold  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Martener,  son  of  the  preceding;  a  protege  of  Vinet 
senior;  honest,  but  a  blockhead;  was,  in  1839,  judge  of  in- 
struction at  Arcis-sur-Aube.  During  election  times  in  the 
spring  of  that  year  he  frequented  the  functionaries:  Michu, 
Goulard,  O.  Vinet,  and  Marest  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DX)]. 

Martha  was  for  a  long  time  Mme.  Josephine  Claes'  de- 
voted chambermaid.  She  died  at  an  advanced  age  between 
1828  and  1830  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  jD]. 

Marthe,  Sister,  a  gray  sister  of  Auvergnate,  from  1809  to 
1816.  She  taught  reading,  writing,  the  history  of  God's  peo- 
ple, the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  the  Catechism,  and  a  little 
arithmetic  to  Veronique  Sauviat  (Mme.  Graslin)  [The  Country 
Parson,   'F\ 

Marthe,  Sister,  rUe  Beausi:ant,  about  1730;  was  a  nun 


352  COMPENDIUM 

in  the  Chelles  abbey ;  a  refugee  with  Sister  Agathe  {nh  Lan- 
geais)  and  Abbe  de  Marolles  in  a  mean  lodging  in  the  high 
faubourg  Saint-Martin.  She  went  out  to  a  confectioner's 
store  near  Saint-Laurent,  January  22,  1793,  to  purchase  the 
holy  wafers  necessary  for  a  mass  for  the  repose  of  the  soul  of 
Louis  XVL,  at  which  she  assisted,  as  also  the  said  King's  exe- 
cutioner. The  following  year,  on  January  21  (1794),  the 
same  ceremony  was  repeated,  and  Sister  Marthe  again  assisted. 
She  passed  the  two  years  of  the  Terror  under  the  protection  of 
Mucins  Scoevola  [An  Episode  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  t\. 

Marthe,  Sister,  under  the  Restoration ;  she  knew  Mes- 
dames  de  I'Estorade  and  Gaston,  at  the  Carmellite  convent  of 
Blois  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Martin.  This  woman,  for  three  francs  per  month  and  a 
pound  of  soap  for  each  child,  was,  in  1829,  the  care-taker  for 
the  charity  children  in  the  commune  of  which  Dr.  Benassis 
was  the  mayor.  She  was  probably  the  first  person  of  that 
district  to  be  seen  by  Genestas-Bluteau,  and  also  the  first  to 
give  him  any  information  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Martineaus,  The.  Two  brothers  who  were  engaged  in 
assisting  M.  de  Mortsauf  in  his  agricultural  work  in  Touraine ; 
the  elder  was  once  a  workman,  then  steward  ;  the  younger  one 
was  a  keeper  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Martineau,  son  of  one  of  the  two  Martineau  brothers  [//^/^.]. 

Marty,  Jean-Baptiste,  a  melodramic  actor ;  the  head  or 
director  of  the  Gaite,  Paris,  before  and  after  it  was  burned  in 
1836.  Born  in  1779;  famous  under  the  Restoration;  in 
1819  and  1820,  he  was  applauded  by  Mme.  Vauquer  {nte 
Conflans)  in  "  le  Mont-Sauvage."  Mme.  Vauquer  conducted 
a  boarding-house  on  the  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  where 
Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin,  was  arrested  on  that  same 
evening*  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

*  Marty  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  1868;  he  was  a  chevalier  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and  was  for  a  long  time  mayor  of  the  commune  of 
Charenton. 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  353 

Marville,*  De.     See  Camusot. 

Mary,  an  Englishwoman  in  the  service  of  Louis  de  I'Es- 
torade's  family,  under  the  Restoration  and  Louis-Philippe 
[Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>i)]. 

Massin-Levrault  junior,  the  son  of  a  poor  locksmith, 
great-nephew  of  Dr.  Denis  Minoret  by  his  marriage  to  a 
Levrault-Minoret ;  the  father  of  three  daughters:  Pamela, 
Aline,  and  Mme.  Goupil,  who  bought,  in  January,  1815,  the 
post  of  clerk  to  the  justice  of  the  peace  at  Nemours ;  he  and 
his  family  at  one  time  lived  on  the  benefactions  of  Dr. 
Minoret,  who  also  obtained  for  him  the  management  of  the 
postoffice  at  Nemours.  Massin-Levrault  junior  was  one  of 
the  indirect  persecutors  of  Ursule  de  Portenduere ;  he  was  a 
municipal  councilor  after  July,  1830;  he  began  to  loan 
money  to  the  peasants  at  enormous  interest — this  cash  had 
been  given  by  the  doctor ;  he  became  a  notorious  usurer 
[Ursule  Mirouet,  Jff]. 

Massin-Levrault,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Levrault-Minoret  about  1793;  on  the  maternal  side  she 
was  great-niece  of  Dr.  Denis  Minoret,  the  daughter  of  a  victim 
of  the  campaign  in  France;  she  paid  much  court  to  her 
wealthy  uncle,  and  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  persecuted 
Ursule  de  Portenduere  [Ursule   Mirouet,  jBT]. 

Massol,  a  native  of  Carcassonne,  a  suckling  barrister  and 
editor  of  the  *' Gazette  des  Tribunaux,"  May,  1830.  He  un- 
knowingly guided  Jacqueline  near  to  Jacques  Collin,  who  was 
incarcerated  in  the  Conciergerie ;  by  Granville's  order  he 
attributed  the  death  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre  to  an  aneurism. 
A  Republican,  he  did  not  prefix  his  name  with  the  particle ; 
in  1834  he  was  an  associate  of  Raoul  Nathan's  in  the  bringing 
out  of  a  great  newspaper.  Massol  was,  together  with  Stid- 
mann,  Steinbock,  and  Claud  Vignon,  a  witness  to  Valerie 
Marneffe's  second    marriage.     In    1845   was   a   councilor  of 

*  He  had  a  brother  who  bore  the  name  of  Camusot,  who  left  the  Ecole 
Polytechnique. 
23 


354  COMPENDIUM 

State,  presiding  over  a  section ;  he  kept  Jenny  Cadine ;  he 
had  charge  of  the  administrative  trial  of  S.  P.  Gazonal  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z— The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  J.— A  Daugh- 
ter of  Eve,  F — Cousin  Betty,  w — The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, ii]. 

Masson,  a  friend  of  Desroches,  who  agreed  with  him  in 
his  advice  to  Lucien  de  Rubempr6,  about  1821,  in  reference 
to  the  seizure  of  Coralie's  furniture  [A  Distinguished  Provin- 
cial at  Paris,  iHT]. 

Masson,  Publicola,  born  about  1795  5  ^^  leading  chirop- 
odist in  Paris,  1845  5  ^  radical  Republican  of  Marat's  school, 
whom  he  physically  resembled ;  he  counted  Leon  de  Lora 
amongst  his  customers  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  t^]. 

Mathias,  born  in  1753.  He  commenced  as  third  clerk 
of  the  notary  Chesneau,  Bordeaux,  whom  he  succeeded ;  he 
was  married,  but  lost  his  wife  in  1826;  had  a  son  in  the 
magistracy,  and  an  established  daughter;  a  type  of  the  old 
notaries,  he  was  prodigal  of  clear-headed  counsel  to  two  gen- 
erations of  the  Manervilles  [A  Marriage  Settlement,  a(l\. 

Mathilde,  The  Great,  in  the  early  years  of  Louis-Phil- 
ippe's reign  was  intimate  with  Jenny  Courand,  Paris  [Gaudis- 
sart  the  Great,  o\. 

Mathurine,  a  cook,  both  honest  and  religious,  once  in 
the  service  of  the  bishop  of  Nancy ;  was  afterward  engaged  in 
Paris  on  the  Rue  Vaneau  by  Valerie  Marneffe,  through  Lisbeth 
Fischer,  her  relation  on  the  maternal  side  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Matifat,  a  rich  druggist  in  Paris  on  the  Rue  des  Lom- 
bards, at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  he  supplied 
the  *' Queen  of  Roses,"  of  which  Ragon  and  Birotteau  were 
successively  the  proprietors;  a  type  of  the  commonplace 
middle-class,  close  and  self-satisfied;  of  jolly  speech  and  per- 
haps of  act.  He  was  married  and  had  one  daughter,  who 
attended  with  himself  and  wife  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar 
Birotteau  on  the  Rue  Saint-Honore,  December  17,  1818.  A 
friend  of  the  Collevilles,  the  Thuilliers,  and  the  Saillards, 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  355 

Matifat  requested  Cesar  Birotteau  to  extend  invitations  to 
them,  which  he  undoubtedly  did.  About  1821,  on  the  Rue 
de  Bondy,  Matifat  kept  an  actress,  who  soon  after  left  the 
Panorama  for  the  Gymnase-Dramatique ;  this  was  Florine, 
whose  real  name  was  Sophie  Gignault,  and  who  later  became 
Mme.  Nathan.  J.  J.  Bixiou  and  Mme.  Desroches  frequently 
visited  him  during  the  year  1826,  at  times  on  the  Rue  du  Cher- 
che-Midi  and  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris.  Under  Louis-Philippe 
Matifat,  a  widower,  re-married  and  retired  from  business.  He 
was  a  partner  in  the  theatre  which  Gaudissart  managed  [Cesar 
Birotteau,  O — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J^ — A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  iyT— The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t — 
The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>J) — Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Matifat,  Madame,  the  first  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  was 
a  person  who  wore  a  lively  colored  turban.  She  shone  under 
the  Restoration  among  the  lower  middle-class;  she  probably 
died  in  the  reign  of  Louis- Philippe  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The 
Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\. 

Matifat,  Mademoiselle,  daughter  of  the  preceding;  she 
assisted  at  the  famous  ball  given  by  Birotteau ;  she  was  sought 
in  marriage  by  Adolphe  Cochin  and  Maitre  Desroches ;  she 
married  General  the  Baron  Gouraud,  who  was  without  for- 
tune, giving  him  a  dot  of  fifty  thousand  crowns,  and  the  ex- 
pectations of  a  house  situated  on  the  Rue  du  Cherche-Midi 
and  another  one  at  Luzarches  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The  Firm 
of  Nucingen,  t — Pierrette,  %\. 

Matifat,  Madame,  Matifat's  second  wife,  born  in  1800, 
of  humble  extraction,  with  a  compromised  past ;  one  of 
Charles  de  Sallenauve's  protectors  in  his  childhood  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDIf]. 

Maucombe,  Comte  de,  a  Provengal,  of  a  famous  family. 
During  the  Revolution  he  donned  the  "  humble  vestments  of 
a  provincial  proof-reader  in  the  office  of  Jerome  Nicholas 
S6chard,  the  printer,  at  Angouleme.  He  had  numerous  chil- 
dren:   Renee,   who  became  Mme.  de  I'Estoradej  Jean,  and 


366  COMPENDIUM 

Marianina,    his    natural    daughter    acknowledged    by    Lanty 
[Lost  Illusions,  3^^— Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Maucombe,  Jean'de,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  he  sacrificed 
a  portion  of  his  heritage  in  favor  of  his  eldest  sister,  Mme. 
de  I'Estorade,  nee  Renee  de  Maucombe  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\. 

Maufrigneuse,  Due  de,  born  in  1778,  son  of  the  Prince 
of  Cadignan,  who  died  an  octogenarian  at  the  end  of  the 
Restoration  ;  he  then  became  the  head  of  the  house,  Prince 
de  Cadignan.*  He  was  the  lover  of  Mme.  d'Uxelles,  whose 
daughter,  Diane,  he  married  about  181 4.  He  lived  on  bad 
terms  with  his  wife ;  kept  Marie  Godeschal ;  was  a  cavalry 
colonel  during  the  reigns  of  Louis  XVIIL  and  Charles  X.; 
under  his  command  he  had  Philippe  Bridau,  Vicomte  de 
Serizy,  and  Oscar  Husson  ;  he  was  a  frequent  attendant  at  the 
Grandlieus  and  d'Espards  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of 
Cadignan,  % — A  Start  in  Life,  s — A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, e/— The  Harlot's  Progress,  T"]. 

Maufrigneuse,  DuckEssE  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Diane  d'Uxelles  in  1776;  married  about  1815.  She  was 
successively  the  mistress  of  de  Marsay,  Miguel  d'Ajuda-Pinto, 
Victurnien  d'Esgrignon,  Maxime  de  Trailles,  Eugene  de 
Rastignac,  Armand  de  Montriveau,  the  Marquis  de  Ron- 
querolles,  Prince  Galathionne,  Due  de  Rhetore,  of  a  Grand- 
lieu,  Lucien  de  Ruberapre,  and  Daniel  d'Arthez.  At  different 
times  she  lived  at  Anzy,  near  Sancerre,  in  Paris,  on  the  Rues 
du  Faubourg  Saint-Honore  and  Miromesnil,  at  Cinq-Cygne 
in  Champagne,  Geneva,  and  the  borders  of  Lake  Leman. 
She  inspired  a  foolish  platonic  passion  in  Michel  Chrestien ; 
she  seemed  averse  to  the  piquant  wit  and  pretty  words  of  the 
Due  d'Herouville.  Her  first  and  last  liaisons  were  the  most 
marked.  For  her  the  Marquis  Miguel  d'Adjuda-Pinto  de- 
serted Berthe  de  Rochefide,  his  wife ;  he  took  this  means  of 
obtaining  vengeance  on  his  old  mistress,  Claire  de  Beauseant. 

*  The  molto  of  the  Cadignans  was :  Memini. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  357 

Her  amours  with  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  became  the  most 
tempestuous  of  romances  :  Mme.  de  Maufrigneuse  disguised 
herself  as  a  man,  and  had  a  passport  bearing  the  name  of  Felix 
de  Vandenesse,  in  order  to  save  Victurnien  from  the  assize 
court,  with  which  he  was  threatened  by  the  foolish  prodigali- 
ties of  his  mistress.  The  duchess  was,  in  fact,  the  prey  of  her 
tradesmen ;  she  wasted  her  means,  and  the  disordered  state 
of  Anzy  was  to  the  profit  of  Polydore  de  la  Baudraye.  Some 
years  later  she  vainly  tried  to  save  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who 
had  been  brought  before  the  judge  of  instruction  on  a  criminal 
charge.  The  Restoration  of  1830  gave  her  a  brilliant  life. 
The  inheritor  of  the  sceptre  of  the  world  of  Mesdames  de 
Langeais  and  de  Beauseant,  whom  she  well  knew,  she  was 
intimate  with  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  with  whom,  in  1822, 
she  disputed  *'  the  fragile  royalty  of  society  "  ;  she  frequented 
the  Chaulieus,  and  took  part  in  a  famous  hunt,  near  1' Havre. 
In  July,  1830,  she  was  financially  reduced,  entirely  deserted 
by  her  husband,  but  now  become  Princesse  de  Cadignan  ;  she 
was  helped  pecuniarily  by  her  relatives,  Mesdames  d'Uxelles 
and  de  Navarreins,  and  Diane  went  into  a  kind  of  retreat; 
she  occupied  herself  on  behalf  of  her  son,  Georges,  and,  aided 
by  a  remembrance  of  Chrestien,  she  became  attached  to  the 
wealthy  and  celebrated  deputy  of  the  Right,  Daniel  d'Arthez, 
but  without  completely  deserting  society ;  indeed,  she  visited 
Felicite  des  Touches  between  1832  and  1835,  and  heard  de 
Marsay  recite  his  anecdotes.  Princesse  de  Cadignan  possessed 
the  portraits  of  her  numerous  lovers.  She  also  had  that  of 
Madame,  whom  she  had  served  and  in  whose  presence  she 
had  met  de  Marsay,  Louis-Philippe's  prime  minister.  She 
also  owned  a  portrait  of  Charles  X.,  which  bore  this  legend  : 
''Given  by  the  King."  After  the  marriage  of  her  son,  who 
married  a  Cinq-Cygne,  she  lived  on  an  estate  which  bore  her 
name.  She  is  again  met  with  during  the  electoral  period  of 
1839  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  & — Modeste 
Mignon,  JS" — The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa — Muse  of 


358  COMPENDIUM 

the  Department,  CC — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z — Letters 
of  Two  Brides,  v — Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DIX]. 

Maufrigneuse,  Georges  de,  only  son  of  the  preceding, 
born  about  1814;  had  successively  in  his  service  Toby  and 
Marin ;  he  took  the  title  of  duke  at  the  end  of  the  Restora- 
tion ;  was  concerned  in  the  last  Vendean  insurrection ;  by  his 
mother's  aid  and  of  his  own  desire,  in  1838,  he  married 
Berthe  de  Cinq-Cygne ;  the  year  following  he  inherited  an 
estate  bearing  the  same  name,  during  the  electoral  period  at 
which  Sallenauve  was  elected  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of 
Cadignan,  ^ — A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — Beatrix,  _P — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  DU]. 

Maufrigneuse,  Berthe  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  the 
daughter  of  Adrien  and  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne;  married 
about  1838;  in  1833  was  already  affianced  to  him  with  the 
consent  of  all  his  family;  she  is  found  with  him  on  her  patri- 
monial estate  at  Aube,  during  the  spring  of  1839  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ;^— Beatrix,  P— The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>J)]. 

Maugredie,  a  celebrated  skeptic  physician  ;  called  in  con- 
sultation, he  pronounced  on  the  very  serious  case  of  Raphael 
de  Valentin  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A]. 

Maulincour,*  Baronne  de,  nee  Rieux  ;  a  woman  of  the 
eighteenth  century  who  **did  not  lose  her  head"  during  the 
Revolution  ;  the  intimate  friend  of  Vidame  de  Pamiers.  With 
the  Restoration  she  installed  herself  in  her  mansion  in  the 
faubourg  Saint-Germain,  where  she  finished  the  education  of 
her  grandson,  Auguste  Carbonnon  de  Maulincour;  she  also 
owned  an  estate  in  the  Bordelais ;  she  asked  the  hand  of 
Natalie  Evangelista  for  her  great-nephew,  Paul  de  Manerville, 
and  passed  a  judgment  upon  that  family  that  was  anything  but 
favorable.     The  Baronne  de  Maulincour  died  some  time  before 

*  The  MauUncours  had  a  hatel  in  the  last  century  on  the  Chauss6e  des 
Minimes,  in  the  Marais,  of  which  Elie  Magus  was  the  owner  from  1835 
to  1845. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  359 

her  grandson,  of  grief  brought  upon  her  by  the  ill-doing 
of  that  young  man  [A  Marriage  Settlement,  aa — Ferra- 
gus,  hh\ 

Maulincour,  Auguste  Carbonnon  de,  born  in  1797; 
grandson  of  the  foregoing;  raised  by  her  and  "formed"  by 
Vidame  de  Pamiers,  whom  he  seldom  left,  living  on  the  Rue 
de  Bourbon,  Paris,  and  who  had  lived  the  life  of  the  court, 
both  brilliant  and  unfortunate,  during  the  reign  of  Louis 
XVIII.  He  embraced  a  military  career,  was  decorated,  be- 
came major  in  a  cavalry  regiment  of  the  Royal  Guards,  then 
lieutenant-colonel  in  a  company  of  the  Body-guards.  He  vainly 
paid  court  to  Mme.  de  Langeais ;  became  the  lover  of  Clem- 
ence  Bourignard,  whom  he  pursued,  compromised,  and  per- 
secuted ;  by  his  indiscretion  he  brought  upon  himself  the 
formidable  enmity  of  Gratien  Bourignard,  Mme.  Desmaret's 
father.  In  the  struggle  that  followed,  Maulincour,  neglecting 
the  advice  given  him,  was  the  subject  of  numerous  accidents ; 
he  was  provoked  to  a  duel  by  the  Marquis  de  Ronquerolles, 
but  finally  succumbed  to  poison,  only  just  surviving  the  old 
baroness,  his  grandmother,  both  of  whom  were  buried  in 
Pere-Lachaise  [The  Thirteen,  J5jB]. 

Mauny,  Baron  de,  was  assassinated  by  a  blow  from  an 
axe,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Versailles,  during  the  Restoration 
or  before  1830,  by  Victor — the  Parisian — who  soon  after  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  house  of  the  Aiglemonts  and  obtained  an 
asylum  in  the  family  of  Helene,  his  future  mistress  [A  Woman 
of  Thirty,  H\ 

Maupin,  Camille.     See  Touches,  Felicite  des. 

Maurice,  valet  of  the  Comte  and  Comtesse  Restaud,  under 
the  Restoration.  His  master  believed  that  he  was  devoted  to 
his  interests ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was  wholly  devoted  to  the 
countess,  who  opposed  him  [Father  Goriot,  6r — M.  Gob- 
seek,  g\ 

Medal,  Robert,  a  celebrated  actor  of  much  talent;  he 
played,  at  Paris,  in  the  last  years  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  at 


360  COMPENDIUM 

the   time  when   Sylvain   Pons  directed  the  orchestra  at   the 
theatre  managed  by  Gaudissart  [Cousin  Pons,  d6\. 

Melin,  an  innkeeper  in  the  west  of  France,  who  lodged  the 
Royalists  who  were  judged  by  Mergi,  1809,  and  was  given, 
for  his  portion,  five  years'  imprisonment  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T]. 

Melmoth,  John,  an  Irishman*  (Englishman),  ''reeking 
of  his  native  isle,"  a  satanic  personage  who  made  a  strange 
bargain  with  Rodolphe  Castanier,f  de  Nucingen's  faithless 
cashier,  by  v/hich  they  reciprocally  exchanged  identities ;  he 
died  in  the  odor  of  sanctity,  on  the  Rue  Ferou,  Paris,  1821 
[Melmoth  Reconciled,  6?]. 

Memmi,  Emilio.     See  Varese,  Prince  de. 

Mene-a-Bien,  Coupiau's  nickname. 

Mergi,  De,  a  magistrate  of  the  Empire  and  the  Restoration, 
whose  zeal  was  rewarded  in  both  reigns,  in  that  he  always 
struck  at  the  representatives  of  the  vanquished  cause.  The 
court  over  which  he  presided,  in  1809,  was  commissioned  to 
judge  **the  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne" ;  Mergi  officiously  arrayed 
himself  against  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T\ 

Mergi,  De,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  he  married  Vanda  de  la 
Bourlac  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  TJ. 

Mergi,  Baronne  Vanda  de,  nee  Bourlac;  of  Polish  origin, 
of  the  Tarlowski  family  on  the  maternal  side  ;  she  married 
the  son  of  the  noted  magistrate,  Mergi ;  she  survived  him, 
condemned  to  misery,  poverty,  and  illness ;  she  was  succored 
in  Paris  by  Godefroid,  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie's  assistant,  who 
also  cared  for  her  father ;  he  called  in  Doctors  Bianchon, 

*  The  compilers  make  Melmoth  an  "  Irlandais  '  puant  1' Anglais  *  "  ; 
the  Edition  Difinitive  reads :  " un  Anglais.  Cet  homme  puait  1' An- 
glais.' ' — Translator. 

f  They  went  together,  accompanied  by  Aquilina,  to  the  Gymnase  to  see 
**  le  Comedien  d'Etampes,"  a  vaudeville  signed  by  Moreau  and  Sewrin  j 
represented  June  23,  1821. 


comAdie  HUMAINE.  361 

Desplein,  and  Haudry ;  she  was  finally  saved  by  MoVse  Hal- 
persohn  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Mergi,  Auguste  de,  during  the  second  half  of  Louis- 
Philippe's  reign,  was  in  succession  a  scholar,  a  student  of 
law,  and  a  modest  employe  of  the  Palais,  Paris ;  he  cared  for 
and  served  his  mother,  Vanda  de  Mergi,  with  an  ingenious 
devotion.  For  her  he  stole  four  thousand  francs  from  Moise 
Halpersohn,  but  was  not  '^uneasy,"  thanks  to  one  of  the 
brothers  of  "Consolation,"  a  table  guest  of  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Merle,  a  captain  in  the  72d  demi-brigade ;  gay  and  care- 
less. Killed  at  la  Vivetiere,  December,  1799,  by  Pille-Miche 
(Cibot)  [The  Chouans,  _B]. 

Merlin,  of  Douai,  a  Conventionalist,  and  for  two  years 
one  of  the  five  directors ;  attorney-general  of  the  Court  of 
Cassation  ;  about  the  end  of  September,  1805,  he  rejected  the 
petition  of  the  Simeuses,  Hauteserres,  and  Michu,  who  were 
convicted  of  having  abducted  Senator  Malin  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff\ 

Merlin,  Hector,  went  from  Limoges  to  Paris  to  take  up 
journalism  ;  he  was  a  Royalist ;  the  most  brilliant  in  the  first 
two  years  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre's  literary  and  political 
work.  Merlin  was  then  Suzanne  du  Val-Noble's  lover;  he 
worked  on  Andoche  Finot's  little  gazette.  He  was  a  dan- 
gerous journalist,  who  would  do  anything  to  gain  the  reward 
of  an  editor-in-chief's  hat.  In  March,  1822,  together  with 
Theodore  Gaillard,  he  founded  *' le  Reveil,"  another  sort  of 
''white  sheet."  Hector  Merlin  had  ''an  ill-shaped  face, 
pierced  by  two  tender,  blue  eyes,  startling  in  their  malice. 
His  voice  partook  of  the  mewling  of  cats  and  the  asthmatic 
sniffle  of  the  hyena"  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M\ 

Merlin  de  la  Blottiere,  Mademoiselle,  of  the  aristoc- 
racy of  Tours  in  1826;  the  friend  of  Francois  Birotteau  [The 
Abbe  Birotteau,  %\. 


362  COMPENDIUM 

Merret,  De,  a  Picard  gentleman,  owner  of  the  *'  Great 
Bret6che,"  near  Vendome,  under  the  Empire;  he  had  the 
door  of  the  closet  walled  up  in  which  his  wife's  lover,  Bagos 
de  Feredia,  the  Spaniard,  was  hidden.  He  died  at  Paris  in 
i8t6,  in  consequence  of  excess  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — 
The  Great  Breteche,  l\ 

Merret,  Madame  Josephine  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing; 
the  mistress  of  Feredia,  whom  she  refused  to  deliver  to  her 
husband,  and  who  perished  almost  before  her  eyes.  She  died 
the  same  year  as  Merret  at  the  Great  Breteche.  The  story  of 
Mme.  Merret  inspired  a  vaudeville  which  was  presented  at  the 
Gymnase-Dramatique  under  the  title  of  ''Valentine"  [An- 
other Study  of  Woman,  I — The  Great  Bretdche,  ?]. 

Merkstus,  a  banker  at  Douai ;  under  the  Restoration  he 
had  a  bill  of  exchange  for  ten  thousand  francs,  subscribed  by 
Balthazar  Claes,  and  in  1819  he  presented  it  at  his  house  for 
payment  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  jy\. 

Metivier,  a  paper  merchant  on  the  Rue  Serpente,  Paris, 
under  the  Restoration  ;  a  correspondent  of  David  Sechard's ; 
a  friend  of  Gobseck  and  Bidault,  like  them  he  frequented  the 
Cafe  Themis,  between  the  Rue  Dauphine  and  the  Quai  Augus- 
tins.  He  retired  from  business,  having  two  daughters  and  an 
income  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs  [Lost  Illusions,  iV^— Les 
Employes,  cc — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Metivier,  nephew  and  successor  of  the  foregoing;  he 
could  have  married  one  of  his  daughters.  He  was  in  the 
book  business  with  Morand  and  Barbet ;  he  exploited  Bourlac, 
1838  ;  he  lived  in  the  Thuilliers'  house,  Rue  Saint-Dominique- 
d'Enfer,  1840;  had  various  business  relations  with  Jeanne- 
Marie-Brigitte,  Cerizet,  and  Dutocq  in  accounts  of  divers  titles 
and  degrees  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T— The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Meynardie,  Madame,  had  successively,  under  the  Restora- 
tion, at  Paris,  a  warehouse  or  workroom  in  which  Ida  Gouget 
worked;  it  was  certainly  a**  house  of  tolerance,"  and  she 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  363 

counted  Esther  van  Gobseck  amongst  her  boarders  [Ferra- 
gus,  hh — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y]. 

Meyraux,  a  doctor  of  medicine;  a  young  scientist  with 
whom  Louis  Lambert  read  about  November,  1819,  in  Paris. 
Meyraux  was  a  member  of  the  Cenacle  of  the  Rue  des  Quatre- 
Vents,  presided  over  by  Daniel  d'Arthez.  He  died  in  1832 
[Louis  Lambert,  xi — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilff]. 

Michaud,  Justin,  an  old  sergeant-major  in  the  cuirassiers 
of  the  Imperial  Guard ;  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 
He  married  Olympe  Charel,  a  chambermaid  of  the  Mont- 
cornets  at  Blangy.  He  was  secretly,  but  unknown  to  himself, 
loved  by  Genevieve  Niseron.  His  soldierly  frankness  and 
loyal  devotion  succumbed  before  the  redoubtable  league 
formed  against  him  by  Sibilet,  the  steward  at  the  Aigues,  and 
Rigou,  Soudry,  Gaubertin,  Fourchon,  and  Tonsard.  Thanks 
to  the  complicity  of  Courtecuisse  and  Vaudoyer,  Frangois 
Tonsard's  bullet,  1823,  shut  down  Michaud's  vigilance  by  his 
death  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Michaud,  Madame  Justin,  originally  of  the  Perche,  wife 
of  the  foregoing,  nee  Olympe  Charel;  a  daughter  of  farm 
laborers ;  pretty  and  honest ;  once  Mme.  de  Montcornet's 
maid  before  her  marriage  and  installation  at  the  Aigues.  She 
married  Justin  Michaud  for  love;  she  had  in  her  service 
Cornevin,  Juliette,  and  Gounod  ;  received  Genevieve  Niseron, 
whom,  she  looked  upon  as  of  a  strange  nature ;  she  trembled 
for  her  husband,  who  was  hounded  in  Blangy,  and  died  from 
alarm  the  same  night  that  Michaud  was  assassinated ;  she  had 
just  been  brought  to  bed  of  a  child,  which  also  died  [The 
Peasantry,  22]. 

Michel,  a  waiter  at  Socquard's  cafe,  Soulanges,  1823;  he 
trimmed  his  employer's  vines  and  kept  his  garden-  in  order 
[The  Peasantry,  jK]. 

Michonneau,  Christine-Michelle.  See  Poiret  senior, 
Madame. 

Michu,  during  and  after  the  French  Revolution,  played  a 


364  COMPENDIUM 

part  in  the  department  of  the  Aube  which  was  contrary  to  his 
real  political  attachments.  Of  humble  origin,  with  a  harsh 
appearance,  he  contracted  a  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  a 
tanner  of  Troyes,  who  held  very  advanced  opinions — all  these 
conspired  to  make  him  seem  a  Republican ;  lastly  Michu  dis- 
simulated his  faith  in  the  Royalists  by  an  active  devotion  to  the 
Simeuses,  the  Hauteserres,  and  the  Cinq-Cygnes.  Michu, 
from  1789  to  1804,  was  the  steward-keeper  of  the  Gondre- 
ville  estate,  taken  from  its  legitimate  owners ;  and,  under  the 
Terror,  was  the  president  of  a  Jacobin  club  at  Arcis.  Follow- 
ing the  assassination  of  the  Due  d'Enghien,  March  21,  1804, 
he  was  dismissed  from  his  position  at  Gondreville.  Michu 
then  went  to  live  not  far  from  there,  in  Laurence  de  Cinq- 
Cygne's  employ  ;  to  her  he  revealed  all  the  secrets  of  his  con- 
duct and  became  her  head  farmer.  Known  to  be  openly 
antagonistic  to  Malin,  he  passed  as  being  the  principal  accom- 
plice in  Malin 's  abduction  ;  he  was  for  this,  in  spite  of  his 
innocence,  sentenced  to  death  and  executed  in  October,  1806 
[A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Michu,  Marthe,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  daughter  of  a 
tanner  of  Troyes,  '*  the  apostle  of  the  Revolution  in  that 
town,"  who  was  compromised  and  convicted  as  an  ** agi- 
tator." A  blonde,  with  blue  eyes,  she  was  made  by  her  father 
to  represent  a  statue  of  liberty  in  a  public  ceremony,  which 
affected  her  modesty.  Marthe  Michu  worshiped  her  husband, 
by  whom  she  had  one  son,  Francois ;  for  a  long  time  she  was 
ignorant  of  her  husband's  secret  and  in  some  sort  led  a  separate 
life  from  him,  being  drawn  to  her  mother.  When  she  learned 
of  the  Royalist  schemes  of  her  husband,  and  that  he  was  de- 
voted to  the  Cinq-Cygnes,  she  was  overjoyed  and  partook  his 
devotion  to  them ;  but  unhappily  falling  into  a  snare  laid  for 
her,  she  was  unknowingly  the  cause  of  her  husband's  con- 
demnation and  execution.  A  forged  letter  told  her  of  the 
place  in  which  Malin  was  confined ;  she  went  there  with 
food  for  him.     She  attended  her  husband  during  the  trial, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  365 

and  her  death  occurred  in  November,   1806  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff\ 

Michu,  Francois,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  1793.  In 
1803  he  unhorsed  a  gendarme,  on  behalf  of  the  house  of  Cinq- 
Cygne.  His  parents'  tragic  death — the  portrait  of  his  father 
decorated  Cinq-Cygne  castle — caused  his  adoption  by  the 
Marquise  Laurence,  whose  care  opened  to  him  a  career  at  the 
bar,  which  he  exercised  from  181 7  to  1819,  leaving  it  then  for 
the  magistracy.  He  was  a  judge  of  the  Aiengon  court  in  1824. 
He  was  then  appointed  procureur  and  received  the  cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  after  the  intended  action  against  Vic- 
turnien  d'Esgrignon  by  du  Bousquier  and  the  Liberals.  Three 
years  later  he  performed  the  like  function  in  the  Arcis  court, 
of  which  he  became  president  in  1839.  He  was  wealthy, 
having  an  income  of  twelve  thousand  francs  settled  upon  him 
by  Mme.  de  Cinq-Cygne.  In  1814  Francois  Michu  married 
Mile.  Girel,  of  Troyes,  a  country  heiress.  In  Arcis  he  only 
frequented  the  functionaries  and  the  Cinq-Cygne  family,  who 
became  related  to  the  Cadignans  by  marriage  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff—Tho:  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa — The  Dep- 
uty for  Arcis,  DD']. 

Michu,  Madame  Francois,  nee  Girel,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going. Like  her  husband  she  seemed,  in  1839,  to  keep  aloof 
from  the  people  of  Arcis  and  only  entered  the  circle  of  the 
official  colony  and  the  family  of  the  Cinq-Cygnes  [A  Histor- 
ical Mystery,  j^— The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DZ>^. 

Migeon,  in  1836,  was  a  janitor,  Rue  des  Martyrs,  of  the 
house  inhabited  for  three  years  by  Etienne  Lousteau ;  the  year 
following  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  descended  upon  him  there. 
Migeon  carried  some  jewelry  for  her  to  the  mont-de-piete,^  and 
received  nine  hundred  francs  thereon  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 

Migeon,  Pamela,  daughter  of  the  foregoing,  born  about 
1823  ;  was  in  1837  the  intelligent  little  chambermaid  of  Mme. 
*  The  State  pawn-office. 


366  COMPENDIUM 

de  la  Baudraye,  when  the  baroness  was  living  with  Lousteau 
[Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Mignon  de  la  Bastie,  Charles,  born  in  1773  ;  originally 
from  the  department  of  the  Van  ''  the  last  young  shoot  of  the 
family  to  which  Paris  owed  the  street  and  hotel  bearing  that 
name;  the  latter  being  built  by  Cardinal  Mignon"  ;  he  was 
something  of  a  soldier  under  the  Republic ;  he  was  bound  to 
Anne  Dumay.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Empire  he  made  a 
marriage  of  reciprocal  inclination  with  Bettina  Wallenrod,  the 
only  daughter  of  a  Frankfort  banker;  some  time  before  the 
return  of  the  Bourbons  he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant-colonel 
and  became  a  commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  Under 
the  Restoration,  Charles  Mignon  de  la  Bastie  was  settled  at 
r Havre  with  his  wife ;  as  a  banker  he  acquired  a  large  fortune  ; 
this  he  lost.  He  expatriated  himself  and  went  to  the  Orient, 
returning  a  multi-millionaire  in  the  last  year  of  Charles  X.'s 
reign.  By  his  marriage  he  had  four  children  ;  of  these  he  lost 
three :  two  died  at  an  early  age  ;  the  third,  Bettina  Caroline, 
was  seduced,  then  deserted,  by  M.  d'Estourny ;  she  died  in 
1827.  Marie-Modeste,  the  sole  surviving  one,  confided, 
during  her  father's  voyaging,  to  the  care  of  the  Dumays,  who 
were  under  obligations  to  the  Mignons,  became  Mme.  Ernest 
de  la  Bastie-La  Briere.*  The  career  and  life,  now  become 
brilliant,  of  Charles  Mignon  allowed  him  to  resume  his  name 
and  title  of  Comte  de  la  Bastie  [Modeste  Mignon,  _K^]. 

Mignon,  Madame  Charles,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  ^^^  Bet- 
tina Wallenrod-Tustall-Bartenstild,  the  spoiled  daughter 
of  a  banker  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  She  lost  her  sight, 
after  the  unhappy  and  premature  end  of  the  eldest  of  her 
two  daughters,  Bettina-Caroline.  Her  youngest  daughter, 
Marie-Modeste, f  became  Mme.  de  la  Bastie-La  Briere.  Li 
the  last  months  of  the  Restoration,  Mme.  Charles  Mignon 
was  operated  on  by  Desplein ;  she  recovered  her  sight,  and 

*  Also  called  :  la  Bri^re-La  Bastie. 

f  A  passionate  reader  of  Melchior  de  Canalis'  poetry. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  367 

was  a  witness  of  Marie-Modeste's  happiness  [Modeste  Mig- 
non,  jKT]. 

Mignon,  Bettina-Caroline,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
preceding;  born  in  1805;  the  picture  of  her  father;  a  true 
Southern  type ;  her  mother's  favorite ;  her  younger  sister  re- 
sembled her  mother ;  she  was  a  kind  of  *•  Gretchen."  Bettina- 
Caroline  was  seduced,  carried  off,  and  then  deserted  by  an 
adventurer  named  d'Estourny;  and  she  died  at  I'Havre, 
whither  she  returned,  surrounded  by  nearly  all  her  family. 
On  her  tombstone,  in  the  little  cemetery  at  Ingouville,  in 
1827,  was  the  following  inscription  :  Bettina-Caroline  Mig- 
non, AGED  TWENTY-TWO.   PrAY  FOR  HER  [ModcStC  Mignon,^]. 

Mignon,  Marie-Modeste.  See  La  Bastie-La  Briere, 
Madame  Ernest  de. 

Mignonne,  the  name  given  by  the  Provencal,  in  memory 
of  a  mistress  named  Virginie,  to  the  panther  which  he  tamed 
in  the  desert  [A  Passion  in  the  Desert,  ds^  H.]. 

Mignonnet,  born  in  1782;  when  he  left  the  schools  was 
a  captain  of  artillery  in  the  Imperial  Guard,  and  retired,  under 
the  Restoration,  to  Issoudun.  A  thin,  little  man,  full  of  dig- 
nity; taken  up  with  science;  a  friend  of  the  cavalry  officer 
Carpentier;  both  were  of  one  accord  with  the  bourgeoisie 
against  Maxence  Gilet,  whose  two  military  partisans.  Major 
Potel  and  Captain  Renard,  belonged  to  the  faubourg  of  Rome, 
Bellville  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Milaud  de  la  Baudraye.  See  La  Baudraye,  Jean-Atha- 
nase-Polydore  Milaud  de. 

Milaud,  a  handsome  man,  a  relative  of  Jean-Athanase- 
Polydore  Milaud  de  la  Baudraye.  By  Marchanzy's  favor  he 
once  embarked  in  an  administrative  career  as  public  minister. 
We  know  him,  under  Louis  XVIIL,  as  a  substitute  at  Angou- 
leme,  where  his  successor  was  Petit-Claud.  Milaud  after  this 
performed  the  same  functions  at  Nevers,  which  was  probably 
his  native  place  [Lost  Illusions,  JV^ — Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\ 


368  COMPENDIUM 

Millet,  grocer,  Rue  Chanoinesse,  who  had  charge  of  the 
renting  of  a  small  vacant  room,  in  1836,  in  Mme.  de  la  Chan- 
terie's  house;  he  gave  certain  information  to  Godefroid,  after 
having  submitted  him  to  a  thorough  questioning  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Millot,  Mademoiselle,  was,*  in  1821,  the  mistress  of 
the  head-claquer,  Braulard  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 
Paris,  M\ 

Minard,  Louis,  an  insurrectionist,  a  Chauffeur,  compro- 
mised in  the  Royalist  rising  in  the  west  of  France  in  1809; 
he  was  brought  before  the  court  held  by  Bourlac  and  Mergi ; 
he  was  condemned  to  capital  punishment,  and  executed  the 
same  year  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Minard,  Auguste-Jean-Francois,  a  clerk  in  the  Bureau 
of  Finance,  with  a  salary  of  fifteen  hundred  francs.  He 
came  to  know — at  the  house  of  the  sister  of  one  of  his  fellow- 
clerks.  Mile.  Godard,  an  artificial-flower  maker.  Rue  Riche- 
lieu— a  workwoman,  Zelie  Lorain,  w^ho  was  the  daughter  of 
a  janitor;  beloved  and  finally  married  her.  She  gave  him 
two  children,  Julien  and  Prudence.  He  then  lived  near  the 
Courcelles  barrier;  he  worked,  saved,  was  an  inoffensive 
man,  and  was  not  troubled  by  Bixiou's  railleries.  He  was 
dismissed  in  December,  1824;  Frangois  Minard  then  went 
into  business  as  a  maker  of  re-dried  teas  and  imitation  choco- 
late, sold  at  low  prices  in  the  quarter  Saint-Marcel ;  afterward 
he  became  a  distiller.  In  1835  he  was  the  richest  merchant 
in  the  quarter,  and  was  located  in  the  Place  Maubert ;  he  also 
owned  one  of  the  most  beautiful  houses  on  the  Rue  des 
Magons-Sorbonne.*  About  1840  Minard  is  found  mayor  of 
the  eleventh  arrondissement — he  resided  there — a  judge  in 
the  commercial  court,  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  About 
this  time  he  renewed  acquaintance  with  his  old  colleagues : 
Colleville,  Thuillier,  Dutocq,  Fleury,  Phellion,  Xavier  Ra- 
bourdin,  Saillard,  Isidore  Baudoyer,  and  Godard  [Les 
*  This  name  has  been  changed  to  the  Rue  ChampoUion. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  369 

Employes,  cc — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t — The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Minard,  Madame,  nee  Zelie  Lorain,  a  daughter  of  janitors, 
wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  once  made  a  trial  to  enter  the 
Conservatoire,  but  her  cold  temperament  and  prudent  char- 
acter caused  her  to  become  an  artificial-flower  maker,  for  she 
worked  for  Mile.  Godard.  Zelie  Minard,  after  her  marriage, 
gave  her  husband,  Francois  Minard,  two  children ;  with  the 
assistance  of  her  mother,  Mme.  Lorain,  she  became  modestly 
established  near  the  Courcelles  barrier.*  Under  Louis-Phil- 
ippe she  became  rich  and  lived  in  that  part  of  the  faubourg 
Saint-Germain  which  adjoins  the  faubourg  Saint- Jacques ;  she 
soon  acquired  the  foolish  fripperies  of  rich  parvenus  [Les 
Employes,  CC — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Minard,  Julien,  son  of  the  preceding  ones ;  a  barrister 
who  was  once  looked  upon  as  ^'  the  genius  of  the  family,"  but 
about  1840,  in  Paris,  he  acted  foolishly  with  Olympe  Cardinal, 
the  creator  of  the  **  Telegraphe  de  I'amour,"  played  by  her  at 
that  time  on  the  little  stage  of  the  Mourier.f  These  dissipa- 
tions were  stopped  by  his  father,  who  established  the  actress ; 
she  became  Mme.  Cerizet  [The  Middle  Classes,  e€i\. 

Minard,  Prudence,  daughter  and  sister  of  the  foregoing 
ones ;  she  is  found  to  be  married  to  Felix  Gaudissart,  about 
the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee— 
Cousin  Pons,  dc\. 

Minette,J  an  actress  at  the  Vaudeville,  on  the  Rue  de 
Chartres,  under  the  Restoration ;  she  died  at  the  beginning 

*  Since  i860  this  suburb  has  become  a  portion  of  the  city  of  Paris,  be- 
longing to  the  eighth  arrondissement. 

f  This  theatre,  founded  in  1831,  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple,  was  re- 
placed by  the  first  Ambigu ;  it  was  changed  to  No.  40  Rue  de  Bondy, 
December  30,  1862. 

X  Minette  married  M.  Marguerite ;  she  lived  the  last  years  of  her  life 
in  the  great  house  at  the  comer  of  the  Rues  Saint-Georges  and  Provence, 
Paris. 

24 


370  COMPENDIUM 

of  the  second  Empire,  the  legitimate  wife  of  a  director  of  the 
Gaz ;  she  had  the  reputation  of  '*  repartee  "  ;  among  other  of 
her  sayings  was :  "The  times  are  out  of  joint  "  ;  this  was  cited 
before  Lucien  de  Ruberapre  in  1820-22  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  iHf  ]. 

Minorets,  The,  a  family  of  stewards  of  Mile.  Sophie 
Laguerre ;  the  predecessors  of  Gaubertin,  at  the  Aigues ;  they 
had  acquired  one-third  part  of  the  domain  [The  Peasan- 
try, JK].  Mme.  Flavie  Colleville's  relations  (she  was  the 
daughter  of  a  dancer,  who  was  kept  by  Galathionne,  and  per- 
haps of  du  Bourguier,  the  contractor)  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Minoret,  Doctor  Denis,  originally  of  Nemours,  born  in 
1746  ;  was  protected  by  Dupont,  a  deputy  to  the  States-general 
in  1789,  of  whom  he  was  the  compatriot.  Educated  by  the 
Abbe  Morellet,  he  was  also  the  pupil  of  Rouelle  the  chemist, 
and  a  fervent  disciple  of  Bordeu,  a  friend  of  Diderot's,  thanks 
to  whom  he  acquired  an  excellent  practice.  Denis  Minoret 
invented  the  Lelidvre  balm ;  he  was  known  as  a  protege  of 
Robespierre's ;  married  the  daughter  of  a  noted  harpist,  Valen- 
tin Mirouet,  who  died  suddenly  soon  after  the  execution  of 
Mme.  Roland.  The  Empire,  as  had  also  the  preceding 
regimes,  rewarded  Minoret's  talent ;  he  became  consulting 
physician  to  his  royal  and  imperial  majesty,  1805  ;  physician- 
^n-chief  of  a  hospital ;  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor ; 
chevalier  of  Saint-Michel,  and  a  member  of  the  Institute. 
He  retired  to  Nemours  (on  the  Rue  des  Bourgeois,  now  the 
Rue  Bezout)  in  January,  1815  ;  he  lived  there  with  his  ward, 
Ursule  Mirouet,  the  daughter  of  his  brother-in-law,  Joseph 
Mirouet ;  she  later  became  Mme.  Savinien  de  Portenduere ; 
when  he  received  her  she  was  an  orphan.  As  she  was  the 
living  picture  of  Mme.  Denis  Minoret,  he  loved  her  to  the 
exclusion  of  his  own  relatives — Minoret-Levrault,  Massin, 
and  Cremidre — who,  fearing  the  loss  of  such  an  important 
succession,  persecuted  his  adopted  child.  Dr.  Minoret,  at 
the  time  when  he  was  fully  occupied  with  their  intrigues,  re- 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  371 

visited  Bouvard,  a  Parisian  colleague  with  whom  he  had  once 
been  intimate,  but  had  since  quarreled,  and,  thanks  to  his 
test  of  animal  magnetism,  learned  much  that  was  happening  in 
his  family.  He  died  at  a  ripe  old  age,  converted  by  Ursule's 
influence  from  a  confirmed  Voltairian  belief;  she  benefited 
largely  under  his  will,  1835  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JEL\ 

Minoret-Levrault,  Francois,  son  of  the  preceding's 
eldest  brother;  his  next  of  kin;  born  about  1769;  a  brutal, 
illiterate  Hercules,  master  of  post-horses  and  the  leading  inn- 
keeper at  Nemours,  in  consequence  of  his  marriage  to  Zelie 
Levrault-Cremiere,  an  only  daughter.  A  deputy-mayor  after 
the  Revolution  of  1830,  he  was,  as  Dr.  Minoret's  nearest  heir, 
Ursule's  most  malignant  persecutor;  he  stole  the  will  made  in 
favor  of  that  young  damsel.  Soon  after  he  was  compelled  to 
make  restitution ;  he  was  seized  with  remorse  and  stricken  in 
his  son  Desire,  who  was  the  victim  of  a  carriage  accident,  and 
by  his  wife  becoming  a  lunatic.  Francois  Minoret-Levrault 
constituted  himself  the  strict  steward  of  Ursule's  property  ;  she 
became  Mme.  Savinien  de  Portenduere  [Ursule  Mirouet,  .H]. 

Minoret-Levrault,  Madame  Francois,  nee  Zelie  Lev- 
rault-Cremiere, wife  of  the  foregoing ;  of  a  frail  appearance, 
of  sour  mien  and  tone,  sharp,  avaricious,  and  as  uncultivated 
as  her  husband,  to  whom  she  gave  half  her  maiden  name — 
according  to  local  usage — and  an  excellent  tavern-keeper. 
She  was  the  real  manager  of  the  post-house  at  Nemours ;  she 
worshiped  her  son  Desire ;  she  was  punished  for  her  cupidity 
and  persecutions  against  Ursule  Mirouet  by  the  tragic  end 
of  her  son ;  she  died  a  lunatic  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Blanche,* 
in  the  village  of  Passy,f  1841  [Ursule  Mirouet,  S\ 

Minoret,  Desire,  son  of  the  two  foregoing;  born  in  1805. 
A  half-pay  pupil  at  the  lycee  Louis-le-Grand,  Paris,  by  the 
favor  of  Fontanes,  who  knew  Dr.  Minoret ;  he  came  under 

*  A  sanitarium  on  the  Rue  Barton. 

f  A  suburb  of  Paris,  annexed  in  i860,  and  now  a  quarter  in  the  six- 
teenth arrondissement. 


372  COMPENDIUM 

Goupil's  influence  when  the  latter  dissipated  his  fortune  in  his 
youthful  days ;  he  was  in  succession  the  lover  of  Esther  van 
Gobseck  and  Sophie  Grignault  (Florine),  who  refused  him  as 
a  husband  and  became  Mme.  Nathan.  Desire  Minoret  took 
little  part  in  the  persecutions  of  Ursule  Mirouet.  He  served 
in  the  Revolution  of  1830.  He  fought  during  the  "three 
glorious  days,"  obtained  the  decoration,  and  was  appointed 
substitute  procureur  at  Fontainebleau.  He  died  of  a  carriage 
accident,  October,  1836  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JBT]. 

Mirah,  Josepha,  born  in  181 4.  A  Jewess,  the  natural 
daughter  of  a  rich  Hebrew  banker ;  deserted  in  Germany,  she 
made  her  name  of  Mirah  by  forming  an  anagram  of  her  real 
name,  Hiram.  At  fifteen  she  was  a  workwoman  at  Paris  and 
was  discovered  and  debauched  by  Celestin  Crevel,  whom  she 
left  for  Hector  Hulot,  who  was  less  economical.  She  was 
then  having  her  voice  cultivated,  and,  under  Louis-Philippe, 
she  had  some  brilliant  engagements  at  the  Italiens,  on  the 
Rue  Le  Peletier.*  When  she  had  ruined  Hector  she  deserted 
him,  and  at  the  same  stroke  took  a  mansion  near  the  Academic 
Royale  de  Musique,  Rue  Chauchat — at  divers  times  occupied 
by  Tullia,  Comtesse  du  Bruel,  and  HeloYse  Brisetout.  The 
Due  d'Hdrouville  became  Mirah's  lover.  This  liaison  brought 
about  a  splendid  establishment  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEveque, 
at  which  a  great  installation  fete  was  given.  Josepha  there 
held  a  kind  of  court.  One  of  the  Kellers  and  the  Marquis 
d'Esgrignon  were  **  crazy"  about  her.  Eugdne  Rastignac, 
then  a  minister,  called  at  her  house  and  she  sang  the  great 
cavatina,  *Ma  Muette,"  for  him.  Immoral,  capricious, 
covetous,  spirituelle,  sometimes  good,  Josepha  Mirah  gave 
proof  of  her  generosity  when  she  protected  and  succored  the 
unfortunate  Hector  Hulot,  for  whom  she  provided  Olympe 
Grenouville.  Finally  the  singer  gave  Mme.  Adeline  Hulot 
some  information  about  the  baron,  then  lying  hidden  in  the 
Passage  du  Soleil,  in  the  quarter  de  la  Petite-Pologne.  We 
♦Formerly  the  home  of  Paris  opera,  1822  to  1873. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  373 

are  told  that  Josepha  Mirah  had  a  portrait  painted  by  Joseph 
Bridau  [Cousin  Betty,  w — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J)Z>]. 

Mirault,  a  name  of  a  branch  of  the  Bargeton  family; 
merchants  of  Bordeaux,  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth 
centuries  [Lost  Illusions,  lf[\ 

Mirbel,  Madame  de,  a  celebrated  miniature  painter,  1796- 
1849  ;  she  successively  painted:  the  portrait  of  Louise  de  Chau- 
lieu,  given  by  the  young  woman  to  her  future  husband,  Baron 
de  Macumer;  the  portrait  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  destined  for 
Esther  van  Gobseck;  the  portrait  of  Charles  X.,  ornamented 
with  the  legend:  ''Given  by  the  King,"  for  the  Princesse  de 
Cadignan,  which  she  carefully  guarded  in  her  little  salon  on  the 
Rue  Miromesnil,  after  the  Revolution  of  1830  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z— The  Secrets  of  the 
Princess  of  Cadignan,  z\. 

Mirouet,  Ursule.  See  Portenduere,  Vicomtesse  Savinien 
de. 

Mirouet,  Valentin,  a  famous  harpist  and  clavichord 
player;  a  maker  of  musical  instruments;  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  French  organists;  the  brother-in-law  of  Dr.  Mi- 
noret;  died  in  1785  ;  his  stock  was  bought  by  Erard  [Ursule 
Mirouet,  J]. 

Mirouet,  Joseph,  natural  son  of  the  foregoing,  the  natural 
brother-in-law  of  Dr.  Denis  Minoret ;  a  musician  of  some 
merit ;  by  nature  a  bohemian,  he  belonged  to  a  regiment,  as 
a  bandsman,  during  the  wars  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century ;  he  crossed  Germany  with  the  French  troops, 
and  married  Dinah  Grollman,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter, 
Ursule — afterward  Vicomtesse  de  Portendufere — early  leaving 
her  an  orphan  and  poor  [Ursule  Mirouet,  ff]. 

Mistigris,  the  nickname  of  the  rapin  Lora,  Leon  de. 

Mitant,  La,  a  woman  of  Conches,  without  means,  and 
convicted  of  taking  pasturage  from  Montcornet's  estate,  in 
1823 ;  her  cow  was  seized  by  the  bailiff  Brunet,  assisted  by 
Vermichel  and  Fourchon  [The  Peasantry,  2J]. 


374  COMPENDIUM 

Mitouflet,  an  old  grenadier  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  the 
husband  of  a  rich  vine-grower,  kept  the  Soleil  d'Or  tavern  at 
Vouvray,  Touraine.  After  1830  Felix  Gaudissart  was  a  guest 
of  his,  and  he  served  as  his  second  in  a  duel  of  "  little 
damage,"  provoked  by  the  practical  joke  played  on  the  illus- 
trious drummer,  who  was  made  the  dupe  of  the  crazy  Mar- 
garitis  [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o]. 

Mitouflet,  a  doorkeeper  at  the  War  Office,  under  Louis- 
Philippe,  in  the  time  of  Cottin  of  Wissembourg,  Hulot  d'Ervy, 
and  Marneffe  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Mitral,  a  bachelor  whose  eyes  and  face  were  of  the  color 
of  snuff ;  a  bailiff  at  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  ;  at  the  same 
time  a  usurer,  who  had  in  his  clientage  Molineux  and  Birot- 
teau ;  he  was  invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer, 
in  December,  1818.  The  maternal  uncle  of  Isidore  Baudoyer; 
intimate  with  Bidault,  Gigonnet,  and  Esther-Jean  van  Gob- 
seek  ;  Mitral  by  their  aid  secured  the  advancement  of  his 
nephew  in  the  Treasury,  December,  1824.  His  home  at  that 
time  was  between  I'lsle-Adam,  the  Marais,  and  the  faubourg 
Saint-Marceau,  the  divers  residences  of  his  numerous  family 
connections.  He  possessed  quite  a  little  fortune,  which  would 
doubtless  descend  to  Isidore  Baudoyer ;  Mitral  retired  to  the 
department  of  Seine-et-Oise  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Les  Em- 
ployes, cc]. 

Mizerai,  in  1836,  a  restaurateur.  Rue  Michel-le-Comte, 
Paris;  at  \yhose  place  Z.  Marcus  dined  for  nine  sous 
[Z.  Marcas,  ifii\. 

Modinier,  M.  de  Watteville*s  steward;  "governor"  of 
Rouxey,  the  Watteville  patrimony  [Albert  Savaron,  /"]. 

Moinot,  a  letter-carrier  about  1815,  in  the  quarter  of  la 
Chaussee-d'Antin,  Paris;  married,  the  father  of  four  children, 
living  at  No.  1 1  Rue  des  Trois-Freres — now  the  Rue  Taitbout 
— on  the  "  fifth  "  ;  he  innocently  revealed  Paquita  Valdes'  ad- 
dress to  Laurent,  de  Marsay's  servant,  who  adroitly  obtained 
it  from  him.     "'Really  my  name  is  written  the  same  as  a 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  375 

moineau — M-o-i-n-o-t,    Moinot.'      'Just   so,'    said   Laurent" 
[The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]- 

Moise,  a  Jew  who  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  "  rouleurs  " 
of  the  South,  of  whom  la  Gonore  was  the  widow  in  1830 
[Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;$;]. 

Moise,  a  musician  of  Troyes  that  Mme.  Beauvisage  pro- 
posed should  be  sent  for  to  give  lessons  to  her  daughter 
Cecile,  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  1839  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>2>]. 

Molineux,  Jean-Baptiste,  a  keen,  avaricious  Parisian 
house-owner.  In  181 5  the  Mesdames  Crochard  were  among 
his  tenants,  between  the  Rues  Tourniquet-Saint-Jean*  and  la 
Tixeranderie ;  about  the  same  time,  on  the  Rue  de  Surene,  he 
lodged  the  Mesdames  Leseigneur  de  Rouville  and  Hippolyte 
Schinner.  Jean-Baptiste  lived  in  the  Cour  Batave,  during  the 
early  years  of  Louis  XVIII. 's  reign.  He  then  owned,  on  the 
Rue  Saint-Honore,  a  house  against  the  back  of  Birotteau's 
store.  Molineux  was  one  of  the  number  invited  to  the 
famous  ball,  December  17,  181 8;  some  time  after  he  was  re- 
.  ceiver  of  the  estate  of  the  bankrupt  perfumer  [A  Second 
Home,  z — The  Purse,  p — Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

MoUot,  in  1839,  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  appointed  clerk  to  a 
justice  of  the  peace  by  the  influence  of  his  wife,  Sophie ;  he 
often  visited  the  house  of  Mme.  Marion  and  there  saw 
Beauvisage,  Goulard,  Giguet,  and  Herbelot  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  J>1>]. 

Mollot,  Madame  Sophie,  wife  of  the  foregoing  ;  a  gossip- 
ing, inquisitive  woman.  She  was  quite  uneasy  about  the 
personality  of  Maxime  de  Trailles,  during  the  election  period 
which  opened  in  Arcis-sur-Aube,  April,  1839  [The  Deputy  for 

Arcis,  jyjy\. 

Mollot,  Ernestine,  daughter  of  the  preceding,  was,  in 
1839,  a  young  person  looking  out  for  a  husband.  She  proba- 
bly married  Simon  Giguet  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>J[>]. 

Mongenod,  born  in  1764;  son  of  an  advocate  to  the  great 
*  Of  an  old  date ;  this  quarter  has  been  entirely  reconstructed. 


376  COMPENDIUM 

council ;  he  was  left  an  income  of  five  or  six  thousand  livres 
per  annum.  Ruined  under  the  Revolution,  he  was  once  a 
clerk  of  Bordin's;  Frederic  Alain  was  a  fellow-clerk  in  the 
same  office.  He  tried  for  success  in  divers  ways :  as  a  jour- 
nalist with  "la  Sentinelle,"  founded  or  resumed  by  him;  in 
musical  composition,  with  'Mes  Peruviens,"  a  comic  opera 
presented  on  the  Feydeau*  stage  in  1798.  His  marriage  and 
the  care  of  the  family  which  resulted  from  it  caused  his  affairs 
to  become  embarrassed.  Mongenod  borrowed  some  money 
of  Frederic  Alain  to  help  in  giving  a  first  presentation  of  the 
*'  Marriage  de  Figaro  "  ;  in  turn  he  borrowed  a  certain  amount 
which  was  not  conveniently  returned.  He  left  for  America, 
made  a  fortune,  and  returned  in  January,  181 6;  he  paid  off 
Alain  in  full  with  compound  interest.  From  this  time  dated 
the  establishment  of  the  celebrated  Parisian  banking-house  of 
Mongenod  &  Co.,  then  Mongenod  Brothers,  and  which  later 
became  the  famous  Mongenod  &  Sons.  About  1819,  when 
Cesar  Birotteau's  failure  occurred,  Mongenod  was  occupied 
on  the  Bourse, f  where  he  elbowed  stockbrokers,  merchants, 
and  bookkeepers.  Mongenod  died  during  the  year  1827  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T— Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Mongenod,  Madame  Charlotte,  wife  of  the  foregoing ; 
she  bravely  supported  her  poverty  during  the  year  1798,  and 
sold  her  hair  for  two  crowns  of  six  livres,  in  order  to  support 
her  family.  In  1827  Mme.  Mongenod  became  a  widow;  she 
was  very  wealthy,  but  remained  the  counselor  and  soul  of  the 
banking  firm,  which  was  directed  by  her  two  sons,  Frederic 
and  Louis,  under  Louis-Philippe,  Rue  de  la  Victoire,  Paris 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Mongenod,  Frederic,  the  eldest  of  the  three  children  of 

*  The  Rue  de  la  Bourse  now  occupies  the  site  of  the  Feydeau  theatre 
and  its  dependencies ;  the  passage  or  alley  of  the  same  name  was  in  ex- 
istence until  1826. 

f  The  Bourse  was  at  this  time  provisionally  held  on  the  Rue  Feydeau, 
until  the  completion  of  the  Bourse  building. 


COM  Ad  IE  HUMAINE,  377 

the  foregoing;  he  received  his  Christian  name  in  honor  of 
M.  Alain;  he  became,  after  1827,  on  the  Rue  de  la  Victoire, 
Paris,  the  head  of  the  paternal  banking  firm.  Among  his 
clientage  were :  the  Marquis  d'Espard,  Charles  Mignon  de  la 
Bastie,  Baronne  de  la  Chanterie,  and  Godefroid,  all  of  whom 
confided  their  funds  to  him  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK. — The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Mongenod,  Louis,  younger  brother  of  the  foregoing ;  as- 
sistant manager  on  the  Rue  de  la  Victoire,  where  he  received 
the  prudent  maternal  recommendations  of  Mme.  Charlotte 
Mongenod,  at  the  time  of  a  visit  paid  by  Godefroid  in  1836 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Mongenod,  Mademoiselle,  sister  and  daughter  of  the 
foregoing  of  the  same  surname ;  born  in  1 799 ;  it  was  pro- 
posed, in  January,  1816,  that  she  should  marry  Frederic  Alain, 
but  he  would  not  accept  her  on  account  of  her  wealth  and 
youth.  She  married  Vicomte  de  Fontaine  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T]. 

Monistrol,  an  Auvergnat,  a  second-hand  furniture  dealer, 
Paris,  about  the  close  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  ;  in  succession 
on  the  Rue  de  Lappe  and  the  new  Boulevard  Beaumarchais ; 
he  was  one  of  the  first  dealers  in  curiosities,  which  later  so 
largely  developed  as  a  business ;  but  this  was  already  recog- 
nized by  the  Popinots,  the  Pons,  and  the  Remonencqs 
[Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Montauran,  Marquis  Alphonse  de,  was,  about  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  and  outside  of  France,  mixed  up 
in  nearly  all  the  important  Royalist  intrigues.  He  was  also, 
through  the  aid  of  Ragon,  the  perfumer  and  proprietor  of  the 
*'  Queen  of  Roses,"  in  correspondence  with  Flamet  de  la  Bil- 
lardiere  and  Comte  de  Fontaine,  of  Paris,  on  behalf  of  the 
Royalists  of  the  West  of  France.  Too  young  to  have  seen 
Versailles,  Alphonse  de  Montauran  had  not  '*  that  fine  flowery 
manner  which  distinguished  Lauzun,  Adhemar,  Coigny,  and 
some  others."     His  education  had  been  spoiled.     He  particu- 


578  COMPENDIUM 

larly  distinguished  himself  in  the  autumn  of  1799.  He  had 
an  attractive  person  ;  his  youth  and  combination  of  bravery 
and  authority  were  noticed  by  Louis  XVIII.  He  became, 
under  the  name  of  the  ''Gars,"  head  of  the  Chouans;  in 
September  he  headed  them  against  the  Blues  on  the  plains  of 
la  Pelerine,  situated  between  Fougeres  (Ille-et-Vilaine)  and 
Ernee  (Mayence),  where  he  engaged  them.  Mme.  du  Gua 
would  not  leave  him.  Alphonse  de  Montauran,  after  having 
enjoyed  Charette's  last  mistress,  sought  the  hand  of  Mile. 
d'Uxelles.  He  was  smitten  by  the  spy,  Marie  de  Verneuil, 
who  went  to  Brittany  expressly  to  aid  the  Blues,  and  married 
her  at  Fougeres,  but  the  Republicans  killed  both  himself  and 
wife  some  hours  after  their  wedding  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O— 
The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Montauran,  Marquise  Alphonse  de,  nee  Marie-Natha- 
lie DE  Verneuil,  at  la  Chanterie,  near  Alengon  ;  the  natural 
daughter  of  Mile.  Blanche  de  Casteran,  the  deceased  abbess 
of  Notre-Dame  de  Seez,  and  Victor-Amedee,  Due  de  Verneuil, 
who  acknowledged  her  and  gave  her  the  advantages  of  his 
legitimate  son  ;  a  trial  between  the  brother  and  sister  followed 
this.  Marie-Nathalie  was  then  received  by  her  guardian,  the 
Due  de  Lenoncourt,  and  passed  as  being  his  mistress ;  she 
vainly  asked  him  to  marry  her,  but  he  deserted  her.  She  was 
concerned  in  the  mixed  politics,  both  socially  and  as  a  spy, 
during  the  different  periods  of  the  Revolution.  After  having 
shone  at  Court,  she  had  Danton  as  a  lover.  During  the 
autumn  of  1799,  Fouche  intrusted  Marie  de  Verneuil  with  the 
capture  of  Alphonse  de  Montauran,  but  the  beautiful  spy  and 
the  chief  of  the  Whites  became  lovers.  They  were  married  a 
few  hours  before  their  death,  about  the  close  of  the  year  1799, 
when  the  Jacobins  and  Chouans  fought  on  the  soil  of  Brit- 
tany. Mme.  de  Montauran  donned  the  uniform  of  the  Mar- 
quis Alphonse  de  Montauran  ;  a  Republican  bullet  struck  her 
to  her  death  [The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Montauran,  Marquis  de,  the  younger  brother  of  Alphonse 


CO  Mi:  DIE  HUMAINE.  379 

de  Montauran,  was  in  London,  in  1799,  when  he  received  a 
letter  from  Colonel  Hulot,  which  contained  his  brother  Al- 
phonse's  last  wishes.  Montauran  was  an  emigrant,  but  did 
not  bear  arms  against  France ;  he  saved  his  estates  by  the  in- 
tervention of  the  same  Hulot,  and  afterward  served  the  Bour- 
bons in  the  gendarmes,  of  which  he  became  a  colonel.  On 
the  ascent  of  Louis-Philippe,  he  seems  to  have  been  a  major 
and  retired.  Under  the  name  of  M.  Nicolas,  he  was  one  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Consolation,  Rue  Chanoinesse,  Paris, 
where  he  was,  together  with  Mme.  de  la  Chanterie,  to  save 
M.  Auguste  de  Mergi  from  justice.  In  1841  we  see  Montauran 
on  the  Rue  du  Montparnasse  \  he  assisted  at  the  elder  Hulot's 
funeral  [The  Chouans,  J5 — The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T — 
Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Montbauron,  Marquise  de,  Raphael  de  Valentin's  aunt ; 
died  on  the  scaffold  during  the  Revolution  [The  Wild  Ass' 
Skin,  A\ 

Montcornet,  Marechal,  Comte  de,  grand  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  commander  of  Saint-Louis;  born  in  1774; 
son  of  a  cabinetmaker  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Antoine,  *'a  Paris 
boy  "  ;  took  an  active  part  in  the  wars  in  the  last  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  Spain  and  Pomerania,  Prussia,  he  had  command 
of  the  cuirassiers  of  the  Imperial  Guard.  He  supplanted  his 
friend  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon  in  Mme.  de  Vaudremont's 
good  graces-  Following  this  he  was  intimate  with  Mme.  or 
Mile.  Fortin,  the  mother  of  Valerie  Crevel.  About  1815 
Montcornet  bought  the  old  estate  of  Sophie  Laguerre's,  the 
Aigues,  for  a  sum  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  hundred  thou- 
sand francs;  it  was  situated  between  Conches  and  Blangy  and 
near  Soulanges  and  Ville-aux-Fayes.  With  the  Restoration 
the  count  would  have  liked  his  origin  to  have  been  forgotten, 
but  he  was  unable  to  erase  the  significant  term  that  was  ap- 
plied to  him  by  the  peasantry,  who  called  him  *'  the  uphol- 
sterer."    Early  in    the  year  .1819   he   married  Virginie  de 


380  COMPENDIUM 

Troisville.  His  income,  which  amounted  in  all  to  about  sixty 
thousand  francs,  allowed  him  to  keep  a  large  retinue ;  in  the 
winter  he  lived  in  a  fine  mansion  on  the  Rue  Neuve-des- 
Mathurins;*  he  frequented  Raoul  Nathan's  and  Esther  van 
Gobseck's  houses.  During  the  summer  the  count,  mayor  of 
Blangy,  sojourned  at  the  Aigues.  His  unpopularity  and  the 
rancor  of  Gaubertin,  Rigou,  Sibilet,  Soudry,  Tonsard,  and 
Fourchon  rendered  his  stay  insupportable,  so  he  sold  the 
estate.  Montcornet  was  of  a  violent  and  feeble  nature,  he 
could  not  show  himself  as  the  head  of  his  own  household. 
The  monarchy  of  1830  heaped  honors  upon  Montcornet;  he 
was  given  the  command  of  a  division,  and  became  a  marshal; 
at  this  time  he  was  a  frequenter  of  the  Vaudeville. f  Mont- 
cornet died  in  the  year  1837.  He  did  not  acknowledge  his 
daughter,  Valerie  Crevel,  but  forgot  her  completely.  He 
was  probably  buried  in  Pere-Lachaise  cemetery ;  a  tombstone 
or  monument  in  his  memory  had  been  ordered  from  W.  Stein- 
bock.  The  Montcornet  device  was :  Sonnez  la  charge,  or 
Sound  the  Charge  [Peace  in  the  House,  j — A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  ilT— The  Harlot's  Progress,  I^— The 
Peasantry,  jR — A  Man  of  Business,  I — Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Montcornet,  Comtesse  de.    See  Blondet,  Madame  Emile. 

Montefiore,  an  Italian  of  the  celebrated  family  of  Monte- 
fiores,  Milan ;  captain  of  a  company  in  the  6th  regiment  of 
the  line  under  the  Empire ;  one  of  the  prettiest  fellows  in  the 
army ;  a  marquis,  but  did  not  carry  the  title  until  after  the 
royal  laws  in  Italy  allowed  of  this  being  done.  Tlirown  by  his 
nature  and  "  made  in  the  mould  of  the  Rizzios,"  he  failed  of 
being  assassinated  in  1808,  in  the  town  of  Tarragona,  by  la 
Marana,  who  surprised  him  with  her  daughter,  Maria- Juana- 

*  Now  the  Rue  des  Mathurins. 

f  This  Paris  theatre  was  situated  up  to  1838  on  the  Rue  de  Chartres. 
The  Rue  de  Chartres,  the  same  as  the  theatre,  although  some  time  after, 
has  now  disappeared ;  it  was  between  the  Place  du  Palais-Royal  and  the 
Place  du  Carrousel. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  381 

Pepita  Mancini,  who  later  married  Frangois  Diard.  Soon 
after  Montefiore  himself  married  an  illustrious  Englishwoman  ; 
in  1823  he  was  killed  and  robbed  by  Diard,  who  had  returned 
after  many  years'  absence,  in  a  gambling  den*  in  the  town  by 
the  water  [The  Maranas,  e\. 

Montez  de  Montejanos,  Baron;  a  wealthy  Brazilian 
of  a  savage  and  primitive  nature;  young  about  1840;  was  one 
of  the  first  lovers  of  Valerie  Fortin — successively  Mme.  Mar- 
neffe  and  Mme.  Crevel — he  returned  to  her  soon  after  her 
removal  to  the  faubourg  Saint-Germain,  on  the  Place  des 
Italiens  ;f  there  he  was  jealous  of  Hector  Hulot,  W.  Steinbock, 
and  others,  and  avenged  himself  by  communicating  a  strange 
malady  to  his  mistress,  of  which  herself  and  Celestin  Crevel 
both  died  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Montpersan,  Comte  de,  the  nephew  of  a  canon  of  Saint- 
Denis  ;  a  frequent  table-guest  of  his ;  an  ambitious  country 
squire;  married,  and  the  father  of  a  family.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Restoration  he  owned  and  lived  in  the  chateau  of  Mont- 
persan, eight  leagues  from  Moulins,  in  I'Allier.  In  1819  he 
received  the  visit  of  an  unknown  young  man,  who  came  to 
announce  the  death  of  Mme.  de  Montpersan's  lover  [The 
Message,  q\. 

Montpersan,  Comtesse  Juliette  de,  wife  of  the  above, 
born  about  1781;  she  lived  at  Montpersan  with  her  family 
when  she  heard,  by  a  traveling  companion  of  his,  of  the  death 
of  her  lover,  which  resulted  from  the  overturning  of  a  vehicle. 
The  countess  delicately  rewarded  the  messenger  of  evil  [The 
Message,  q^^ 

Montpersan,  Mademoiselle  de,  daughter  of  the  above ; 
she  was  quite  a  child  when  a  messenger  arrived  with  the  sad 
details  which  caused  her  mother  to  leave  the  table.  She  could 
only  grasp  the  comical  side  of  the  situation,  and  remarked  on 

*  He  was  slain  in  the  middle  of  a  deserted  street  or  lane  in  Bordeaux, 
f  Now  the  Place  BoTeldieu. 


382  COMPENDIUM 

her  father's  gluttony,  which  she  said  had  caused  her  mother's 
precipitate  retreat  [The  Message,  q\. 

Montriveau,  General  Marquis  de,  father  of  Armand  de 
Montriveau.  Although  a  chevalier  of  the  various  orders,  he 
held  wholly  to  the  high  nobility  of  Burgundy,  and  scorned 
the  financial  advantages  and  nobility  of  those  without  birth. 
He  was  an  Encyclopaedist  and  "  one  of  the  ci-devants,  who 
nobly  served  the  Republic."  Montriveau  perished,  killed, 
like  Joubert,  at  Novi,  Italy  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh\ 

Montriveau,  Comte  de,  the  paternal  uncle  of  Armand  de 
Montriveau.  A  fat  man,  "  a  great  eater  of  oysters  "  ;  contrary 
to  his  brother,  he  emigrated,  was  made  welcome  in  his  exile 
by  the  Rivaudoults  d'Arschoot,  of  the  Dulmen  branch ;  he 
died  at  St.  Petersburg  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh\ 

Montriveau,  General  Marquis  Armand  de,  nephew  of 
the  foregoing,  only  son  of  General  de  Montriveau.  An  orphan 
without  fortune,  he  was  placed  by  Bonaparte  in  the  school  at 
Chalons,  entered  the  artillery,  and  was  in  the  last  campaigns 
of  the  Empire,  among  others  that  in  Russia,  and  received 
numerous  serious  wounds  on  the  field  of  Waterloo — he  was 
then  a  colonel  in  the  Guards.  The  first  three  years  of  the 
Restoration  he  passed  far  from  Europe.  He  wished  to  ex- 
plore Egypt ;  the  centre  of  Africa.  The  savages  captured  and 
reduced  him  to  slavery.  An  audacious  escape,  which  he 
effected  by  his  own  exertions,  allowed  of  his  return  to  Paris, 
where  he  lived  on  the  Rue  de  Seine,  near  the  Chamber  of 
Peers.  At  this  time  he  was  poor,  and  without  protection  or 
ambition,  but  he  was  soon  promoted  a  general.  His  member- 
ship in  the  *' Thirteen,"  powerful,  occult,  and  redoubtable, 
was  composed,  among  other  of  its  members,  of  Ronquerolles, 
Marsay,  and  Bourignard ;  they  perhaps  afforded  him  a  favor 
which  he  had  not  solicited.  This  same  freemasonry  seconded 
Montriveau's  desires  to  avenge  himself  on  the  cajoling  co- 
quetry of  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  and  later  to  attempt  the 
carrying  off  of  the  duchess  from  the  Spanish  Carmellites. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  383 

About  this  time  the  general  met  Rastignac  at  the  house  of 
Mme.  de  Beauseant,  then  about  leaving  Paris.  One  evening, 
at  the  opera,  the  general  was  approached  by  Mesdames  d'Es- 
pard  and  de  Bargeton.  Montriveau,  the  living  picture  of 
Kleber,  became  noted  for  his  Egyptian  travels,  as  he  met 
Sixte  Chatelet,  who  had  been  his  companion  in  his  explora- 
tions ;  he  now  became  the  lion  of  society,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Langeais  appeared  to  be  smitten  by  him  as  he  was  by  her.  In 
the  first  years  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  at  the  home  of  Mile. 
des  Touches,  he  told  how  he  had  been  the  involuntary  cause 
of  the  vengeance  of  the  husband  of  a  certain  Rosina ;  this  he 
narrated  before  an  audience  of  artists  and  nobles.  This  story 
had  to  do  with  the  Imperial  wars.  Montriveau,  a  peer  of 
France,  the  commandant  of  a  department,  was  unfaithful  to 
the  memory  of  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  and  courted  the  beau- 
tiful Mme.  Rogron,  nee  Bathilde  de  Chargebceuf,  whom  he 
hoped  soon  to  marry.  In  1839  he  served,  as  also  did  M.  de 
RonqueroUes,  as  a  witness  for  the  Due  de  Rhetore  in  the  duel 
which  Louise  de  Chaulieu's  eldest  brother  had  with  Dorlange- 
Sallenauve  about  Marie  Gaston  [The  Duchess  of  Langeais,  hh 
— Father  Goriot,  6r — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ]K 
— Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — Pierrette,  i — The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  jyD\ 

Morand,  once  a  clerk  to  Barbet  the  bookseller,  then,  in 
1838,  his  partner  together  with  Metivier;  he  tried  to  exploit 
Baron  de  Bourlac,  author  of  a  "  Traite  des  legislations  com- 
parees"  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Moreau,  born  in  1772;  the  son  of  a  *' Dantonist,"  a 
syndic  barrister  at  Versailles  during  the  Revolution.  He  was 
Mme.  Clapart's  lover  and  lived  devoted  to  her  his  whole 
life.  After  a  troubled  life,  about  1805,  Moreau  took  the 
stewardship  at  Presles,  situated  in  the  valley  of  the  Oise,  be- 
longing to  Comte  de  Serizy ;  he  married  Estelle,  Leontine  de 
Serizy's  chambermaid.  By  her  he  had  three  children ;  he 
held  this  position  as  steward  for  seventeen  years ;  he  retired 


381  COMPENDIUM 

wealthy  on  the  day  on  which  Reybert  had  convinced  the 
comte  that  he  was  trying  to  make  a  fraudulent  bargain  with 
Le^er.  The  foolish  conversation  of  his  godson,  Oscar  Hus- 
son,  also  helped  him  in  deciding  to  leave  his  position  as 
steward  of  Presles.  Moreau  conquered,  under  Louis-Philippe, 
a  splendid  position.  He  made  a  fortune  in  land  trades  ;  was 
the  brother-in-law  of  Constant-Cyr-Melchior  de  Canalis ;  he 
finally  became  known  as  a  deputy  of  the  Centre,  under  the 
name  of  Moreau  de  V  Oise  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Moreau,  Madame  Estelle,  a  fair  person,  wife  of  the 
foregoing,  born  at  Saint-Lo,  of  peasant  parentage ;  was  once 
a  chambermaid  in  Leontine  de  Serizy's  service  ;  when  fortune 
came  she  put  on  great  pretensions,  and  her  welcome  of  Oscar 
Husson  was  both  ''cold  and  dry"  ;  he  was  a  son  of  Mme. 
Clapart's  first  marriage.  She  engaged  Nattier  to  affix  the 
flowers  in  her  headdress,  and  appeared  in  full  style  before 
Joseph  Bridau  and  Leon  de  Lora,  who  had  come  from  Paris 
in  the  autumn  of  1822  to  take  charge  of  the  decorative  work 
at  Presles  for  Comte  de  Serizy  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Moreau,  Jacques,  the  eldest  of  the  three  children  of  the 
above ;  was  at  Presles  the  habitual  intermediary  between  his 
mother  and  Oscar  Husson  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Moreau,  the  leading  upholsterer  in  Alengon,  Rue  de  la 
Parte-de-Seez,  near  the  church;  in  1816  he  furnished  Mme. 
de  Bousquier — then  Mile.  Rose  Cormon — with  the  furniture 
necessary  to  install  M.  de  Troisville  in  her  house ;  he  had  in- 
opportunely arrived  from  Russia  [The  Old  Maid,  aci\. 

Moreau,  an  old  laborer  of  the  Dauphine,  the  uncle  of 
little  Jacques  Colas,  who  with  his  wife  lived  poor  and  resigned, 
under  the  Restoration,  in  a  village  near  Grenoble,  which 
had  been  metamorphosed  by  Dr.  Benassis  [The  Country 
Doctor,    C\ 

Moreau-Malvin,  *'a  big  butcher,"  died  about  1820; 
his  magnificent  tomb  of  ornamented  white  marble.  Rue  du 
Marechal-Lefebvre,   Pere-Lachaise,   was   near    the    grave    of 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  385 

Mine.  Jules  Desmarets  and  that  of  Mile.  Raucourt,  of  the 
Comedie-Fran^aise  [Ferragus,  &&]. 

Morillon,  Father,  a  priest  who  for  some  time  had  charge 
of  the  early  education  of  Gabriel  Claes,  under  the  Empire 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  X)]. 

Morin,  La,  an  old  and  very  poor  woman  who  raised  the 
orphan  la  Fosseuse,  with  a  measure  of  kindness,  in  a  market- 
town  in  the  vicinity  of  Grenoble,  but  who,  nevertheless, 
gave  her  a  few  blows  on  her  fingers  with  a  spoon  when  the 
child  too  often  offended  in  eating  her  soup  by  placing  the 
porringer  to  her  mouth  in  the  way  of  common  people.  La 
Morin  worked  on  the  land  the  same  as  a  man  ;  she  often  com- 
plained about  her  wretched  truckle-bed,  which  she  shared  with 
la  Fosseuse  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Morin,  Jeanne-Marie- Victoire  Tarin,  a  widow  accused 
of  attempting  the  extortion  of  signatures  on  bills  of  exchange, 
and  of  an  attempt  to  assassinate  the  Sieur  Ragoulleau  ;  she  was 
sentenced  to  twenty  years'  hard  labor  by. the  Paris  Court  of 
Assize,  January  ii,  1812.  The  eldest  Poiret,  the  *'dittoist," 
who  deposed  as  a  witness  in  her  favor,  often  spoke  of  this 
event.  The  widow  Morin  was  born  at  Pont-sur-Seine,  Aube ; 
she  was  a  compatriot  of  Poiret's,  who  was  born  at  Troyes 
[Father  Goriot,  6r].  Numerous  details  have  been  extracted 
and  published  from  this  criminal  affair. 

Morisson,  the  inventor  of  purgative  pills  which  were  tried 
to  be  initated  by  Dr.  Poulain,  Pons'  and  Cibot's  physician, 
who  thereby  hoped  to  gain  a  fortune,  under  Louis-Philippe 
[Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Mortsauf,  Comte  de,  the  representative  of  a  family  of 
Touraine,  who  had  an  ancestor  in  the  time  of  Louis  XL,  who 
escaped  the  gallows*  with  his  fortune,  arms,  and  titles.  The 
count  was  the  incarnation  of  an  '*  emigrant."  The  voluntary 
or  forced  exile  returned  to  France  broken  in  body  and  spirit. 

*  This  is  an  exceptional  reference  as  it  is  outside  the  Comedie  Humaine, 
being  furnished  by  the  Droll  Stories. 
25 


386  COMPENDIUM 

He  married  Blanche-Henriette  de  Lenoncourt,  by  whom  he 
had  two  children,  Jacques  and  Madeleine ;  on  the  return  of 
the  Bourbons  he  received  the  brevet  of  field-marshal,  but  he 
never  left  Clochegourde,  a  castle  which  formed  a  portion  of 
his  wife's  dowry,  and  was  situated  on  the  rivers  Indre  and 
Cher  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Mortsauf,  Comtesse  de,*  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Blanche-Henriette  de  Lenoncourt;  of  '*  the  house  of 
Lenoncourt-Givry  on  the  point  of  being  extinguished,"  in  the 
early  years  of  the  Restoration ;  she  came  into  the  world  after 
three  brothers ;  she  had  a  sorrowful  infancy ;  she  found  a  real 
mother  in  her  aunt,  a  Blamont-Chauvry,  and,  married,  found 
her  sole  consolation  in  maternity.  This  feeling  enabled  her 
to  repulse  the  love  she  excited  in  the  breast  of  Felix  de  Van- 
denesse ;  the  effort  and  struggle  against  her  feelings  and  his 
desire — he  was  an  intimate  in  her  home — brought  upon  the 
countess  a  terrible  illness  of  the  stomach  of  which  she  died  in 
1820  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Mortsauf,  Jacques  de,  the  eldest  of  two  children  born  of 
the  foregoing ;  the  pupil  of  Dominis ;  the  most  delicate  of  the 
family,  he  died  prematurely.  With  him  died  out  the  direct 
line  of  the  Lenoncourt-Givrys,  of  whom  he  was  the  designated 
inheritor  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Mortsauf,  Madeleine  de,  sister  of  the  foregoing;  after 
the  death  of  her  mother  she  sulked  with  Felix  de  Vandenesse, 
whom  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  had  loved ;  she  afterward  became 
the  Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt-Givry.  See  that  biography 
[The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Mouche,  born  in  181 1;  a  bastard  of  one  of  Fourchon's 
natural  daughters,  and  a  soldier  who  died  in  Russia ;  he  was 
received,  an  orphan,  by  his  maternal  grandfather,  whom  he 
at  once  assisted,  by  becoming  his  apprentice  as  a  rope-maker. 

*  June  14,  1853,  Beauplan  and  Barri^re  presented,  on  the  stage  of 
the  C()medie-Fran9aise,  a  drama  in  which  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  was  the 
heroine, 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  387 

About  1823,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Ville-aux-Fayes,  he 
made  a  profit  of  the  credulity  of  strangers,  by  feigning  to 
facilitate  their  hunt  after  otters.  Mouche's  conduct  and  ap- 
pearance scandalized  the  Montcornets  and  their  guests  in  the 
same  year,  1823  [The  Peasantry,  i?]. 

Mouchon,  the  eldest  of  three  brothers  who  lived,  in  1793, 
in  the  valley  of  the  Avonne  or  Aigues ;  he  administered  the 
RonqueroUes'  estates ;  became  a  deputy  to  the  Convention 
from  his  department,  and  saved  the  lives  and  properties  of 
the  Ronquerolles.  He  had  a  reputation  for  integrity.  He 
died  in  1804,  leaving  two  daughters^  Mesdames  Gendrin  and 
Gaubertin  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Mouchon,  brother  of  the  foregoing ;  was  master  of  post- 
horses  at  Conches ;  he  had  a  daughter  who  married  the  rich 
farmer  Guerbet.     He  died  in  181 7  [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Mouchon,  a  brother  of  the  preceding  ones,  born  in  1756. 
A  priest  before  the  Revolution,  he  was  the  cure  of  Ville-aux- 
Fayes,  being  again  in  charge  under  the  Restoration.  He  was 
a  popular  man  even  in  the  midst  of  such  as  Rigou,  Soudry, 
Gaubertin,  Sibilet,  Fourchon,  Tonsard,  and  the  rest.  He  is 
once  designated  under  the  name  of  "  Moucheron "  [The 
Peasantry,  2^]. 

Mougin,  born  in  Toulouse  about  1805 ;  was  the  fifth 
Parisian  hair-dresser  to  succeed  to  the  name  of  Marius  in  the 
same  establishment.  In  1845  ^^  was  rich,  married,  the  father 
of  a  family,  a  captain  in  the  National  Guard,  decorated  (after 
1832),  and  an  elector.  Stimulated  by  J.  J.  Bixiou  and  Leon 
de  Lora,  he  showed  himself  a  pastmaster  in  the  art  of  capillary 
achievements  before  the  astonished  eyes  of  S.  P.  Gazonal 
[The  Unconscious  Mummers,  if]. 

Mouilleron,  attorney-general  at  Issoudun,  1822 ;  the 
"cousin"  of  everybody  in  that  town  during  the  dissension 
which  existed  between  the  Rouget  and  Bridau  families  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Mouilleron,  commissary  of  police  at  Issoudun  at  the  time 


388  COMPENDIUM 

when  the  Bridaus  struggled  against  Gilet,  who  was  installed  in 
the  Rouget  household  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Murat,  Joachim,  Prince,  is  found  with  Lannes  and  Rapp 
at  the  residence  of  Bonaparte,  the  First  Consul,  in  October, 
1800,  on  the  day  when  Bartholomeo  di  Piombo  was  intro- 
duced by  Lucien  Bonaparte.  In  1806  he  was  Grand-Due  de 
Berg,  at  the  time  of  the  famous  clash  between  the  Simeuses 
and  Malin  de  Gondreville.  Murat  went  to  the  aid  of  the 
regiment  of  cavalry  commanded  by  Colonel  Chabert  at  the 
battle  of  Eylau,  February  7  and  8,  1807.  "A  wholly 
Oriental  man,"  he  gave^n  example  of  absurd  luxury  in  the 
midst  of  modern  soldieny  even  before  he  was  placed  on  the 
throne  of  Naples,  1808.  During  a  watch-night  meeting  of  the 
villagers  of  the  Dauphine,  twenty  years  after,  Benassis  and 
Genestas  listened  to  a  veteran,  then  become  a  laborer,  recite 
the  brilliant  deeds  of  the  intrepid  Murat  [The  Vendetta,  i — 
A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — Colonel  Chabert,  i — Peace  in  the 
House,  J — The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Muret  gave  information  about  Goriot,  his  predecessor  in 
the  "Italian  paste"  business,  when  he  traded  in  that  article 
[Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Musson,  a  hoaxer  and  player  of  practical  jokes  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  police-spy  Peyrade 
imitated  him  twenty  years  after,  when  he  assumed  the  role  of  a 
nabob  and  kept  Suzanne  Gaillard,  by  cunning  tricks  and  clever 
disguises  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Yj  Z\ 


N 


Nanon,  called  the  "Great  Nan  on "  by  reason  of  her 
height  (the  first  time  being  in  1793),  born  about  1769.  She 
at  one  time  looked  after  the  cows  on  a  farm  which  she  was 
compelled  to  leave  after  being  burned  out.  In  1791,  when 
twenty-two  years  old,  she  entered  Felix  Grandet's  service  at 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  ,  389 

Saumur,  and  never  after  left  him.  She  was  always  thankful  for 
her  master  having  received  her.  She  was  brave,  devoted,  and 
sober ;  the  only  servant  that  the  miser  had ;  all  the  wages  she 
received  for  her  very  laborious  services  were  sixty  francs  per 
year.  Nevertheless  she  accumulated  all  that  her  humble 
salary  would  allow  her  to  save,  and  about  1819  placed  four 
thousand  francs  in  the  hands  of  Maitre  Cruchot.  Nanon 
also  received  an  annuity  of  twelve  hundred  francs  from  Mme. 
de  Bonfons;  she  lived  near  the  daughter  of  her  old  master, 
who  was  deceased;  and  about  1827,  and  almost  a  sexage- 
narian, she  married  Antoine  Cornoiller.  With  her  husband 
she  continued  her  devoted  work  for  Eugenie  de  Bonfons* 
[Eugenie  Grandet,  JE1\ 

Napolitas,  in  1830,  the  secretary  to  Bibi-Lupin,  chief  of 
the  police  of  safety.  The  ^* sheep"  of  the  Conciergerie ;  he 
played  the  part  of  the  son  of  a  family  accused  of  crime  in 
order  to  watch  Jacques  Collin,  who  was  there  pretending  that 
his  name  was  Charles  Herrera  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\ 

Narzicof,  Princess,  a  Russian ;  she  had,  according  to 
Fritot,  left  a  caleche  with  that  merchant  in  payment  of  her 
account  for  furnishings ;  this  was  the  one  in  which  Mrs. 
Noswell  was  taken  to  the  Hotel  Lawson,  together  with  the 
shawl  called  the  ''  Selim  "  [Gaudissart  II.,  tl]. 

Nathan,  Raoul,  the  son  of  a  Jew  broker  who  died  a 
bankrupt  some  time  after  embracing  the  Catholic  faith ;  for 
twenty-five  years — 1820  to  1845 — he  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  writers  in  Paris.  Raoul  Nathan  was  a  gen- 
eral writer:  dramatist,  journalist,  romancist,  and  a  poet. 
In  182 1  Dauriat  published  for  him  a  work  of  imagination 
which  Lucien  de  Rubempre  successively  exalted  and  at- 
tacked; Nathan  also  presented  an  *' imbroglio,"  played  on 
the  stage  of  the   Panorama-Dramatique,  under   the   title   of 

*  Contrary  to  the  usual  method  followed  in  the  Compendium,  in  the 
order  and  arrangement  of  the  biographies,  Nanon  is  placed  here  by  reason 
of  her  very  late  marriage  with  Cornoiller. 


300  COMPENDIUM 

"I'Alcade  dans  Tembarras  "  ;*  it  was  signed  with  the  sim- 
ple name  of  Raoul,  but  he  had  Cursy  (M.  du  Bruel)  as  a 
collaborator.  The  piece  was  a  success.  About  the  same 
time  he  supplanted  Lousteau  as  Florine's,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal actresses  in  the  play,  lover.  In  the  same  period  he  was 
friendly  with  Emile  Blondet,  who  wrote  him  a  letter  dated 
from  the  Aigues,  in  which  he  depicted  the  Montcornets 
and  recounted  their  local  difficulties.  Raoul  Nathan,  al- 
ways ready  for  jolly  and  dissipated  company,  was,  with 
Giroudeau,  Finot,  and  Bixiou,  a  witness  to  the  marriage  of 
Philippe  Bridau  with  Mme.  J.  J.  Rouget.  He  was  at  Floren- 
tine Cabirolle's  when  the  Marests  and  Oscar  Husson  were 
guests  there,  and  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Esther  van  Gob- 
seck's  house,  which  was  also  frequented  by  Blondet,  Bixiou, 
and  Lousteau.  Also  at  the  same  time  he  was  much  occupied 
on  the  press,  and  inclined  toward  Royalism.  The  coming  of 
Louis-Philippe  did  not  diminish  the  extended  circle  of  his 
acquaintance.  The  Marquise  d'Espard  welcomed  him.  This 
was  when  he  heard  evil  spoken  of  Diane  de  Cadignan,  to  the 
great  annoyance  of  Daniel  d'Arthez,  who  was  also  present. 
Marie  de  Vandenesse,  newly  married,  remarked  Nathan, 
"beautiful  with  an  ugly  artistic  grace,"  of  uncultured  and 
yet  of  an  irregular  elegance  of  appearance,  full  of  cheerfulness 
and  literary  fame,  and  gallant.  Raoul  resolutely  exploited 
the  situation.  A  real  Republican,  he  willingly  cherished  the 
idea  of  possessing  a  woman  of  the  aristocracy.  The  conquest 
of  Mme.  la  Comtessede  Vandenesse  would  have  suited  the  dream 
of  vengeance  nourished  by  Lady  Dudley;  but  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  usurers.  He  was  captivated  by  Florine,  and  domiciled 
in  wretched  style  in  a  passage  between  the  Rues  Basse-du-Rem- 
part  and  Neuve-des-Mathurins,"}"  also  often  staying  in  the  offices 
of  the  journal  he  had  founded,  Rue  Feydeau,  and  heard  from 

*  A  comic  melodrama. 

f  This  must  certainly  be  the  Sandri6  passage  which  began  at  No.  38 
Rue  Basse-du-Rempart,  and  ended  at  No.  5  Rue  Neuve-des-Mathurins. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  391 

Florine  how  the  countess  had  been  saved  from  him  by  Van- 
denesse.  In  the  early  years  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  Nathan 
brought  out  a  brilliant,  bustling  drama,  his  two  collaborators 
being  M,  and  Mme.  Marie  Gaston,  who  were  designated  under 
the  style :  MM.  *  *  *  .  In  his  youth  he  also  had  played  a 
romantic  piece,  ''Pinto,"  *  at  the  Odeon,  at  the  period  when 
the  classics  reigned  supreme;  the  stage  had  been  rudely  agi- 
tated during  the  three  years  that  the  piece  had  been  defended 
and  attacked.  He  afterward  gave,  at  the  Theatre-Frangais,  a 
great  drama  which  fell  ''with  all  the  honors  of  war,  amid 
salvos  of  thundering  articles."  In  1837-38  Vanda  de  Mergi 
read  a  new  romance  to  Nathan,  entitled  "la  Perle  de  Dol." 
The  memory  of  his  mundane  intrigues  still  pursued  Nathan, 
when  with  much  persuasion  he  returned  the  printed  announce- 
ment of  the  birth  of  Melchior  de  la  Baudraye  to  M.  de  Clagny. 
For  the  rest  Nathan  is  found  in  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye's  so- 
ciety, who  received  him  on  the  Rue  de  Chartres-du-Roule,  at 
the  home  of  Beatrix  de  Rochefide,  to  newly  arrange  a  certain 
history  after  the  manner  of  Sainte-Beuve,  on  the  Bohemians 
and  their  prince,  Rusticoli  de  la  Palferine.  Raoul  also  culti- 
vated the  Marquise  de  Rochefide's  society,  and,  one  evening 
in  October,  1840,  we  see  before  the  stage  of  the  Varietes  the 
meeting  of  Canalis,  Nathan,  and  Beatrix.  He  was  also  re- 
ceived with  familiarity  in  Marguerite  Turquet's  boudoir;  as 
one  of  a  group  formed  of  Bixiou,  la  Palferine,  and  Maitre 
Cardot ;  Nathan  heard  Maitre  Desroches  relate  how  Cerizet 
had  used  Antonia  Chocardelle  in  order  to  "beat"  Maxime 
de  Trailles.  Nathan  at  a  late  time  married  his  mistress, 
Florine,  whose  real  name  was  Sophie  Grignault  [A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  Jl"— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z 
— The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z — A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  "F— Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v — The  Seamy  Side  of  His- 
tory, T — Muse  of  the   Department,  CC — A  Prince  of  Bo- 

*  A  drama  by  Nepomuc^ne  Lemercier ;  according  to  Labitte,  "  the  first 
work  performed  in  the  renovated  theatre." 


392  COMPENDIUM 

hernia,  FF—h.  Man  of  Business,  I — The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, u]. 

Nathan,  Madame  Raoul,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Sophie  Grignault,  in  1805,  in  Brittany.  She  was  of  perfect 
beauty,  her  foot  alone  made  one  desire  her.  From  her  very 
youth  she  carried  on  the  double  career  of  gallantry  and  actress 
under  the  name,  which  became  famous,  of  Florine.  The 
early  stages  of  her  life  remain  obscure.  Mme.  Nathan,  a 
stage-dancer  at  the  Gaite,  1820,  had  had  six  lovers  before  she 
took  Etienne  Lousteau  on  her  string ;  she  first  knew  him  in 
1 82 1.  She  was  friendly  with  Florentine  Cabirolle,  Claudine 
Chaffaroux,  Coralie,  and  Marie  Godeschal.  She  was  kept  by 
the  druggist  Matifat,  and  lived  on  the  Rue  de  Bondy,  where, 
after  her  brilliant  success  at  the  Panorama-Dramatique,*  in 
company  with  Coralie  and  Bouffe,  she  received  the  diplomats, 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  Camusot,  etc.,  in  magnificent  style. 
Florine  soon  changed  for  her  advantage  her  lover,  her  resi- 
dence, theatre,  and  protector:  Nathan,  whom  she  afterward 
married,  in  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe,  replaced  Lousteau ;  the 
Rue  Hauteville,  the  Rue  de  Bondy;  and  the  Gymnase,  the  Pano- 
rama. Engaged  at  the  Boulevard  Bonne-Nouvelle  theatre, 
she  there  met  her  old  rival  Coralie,  against  whom  she  organized 
a  cabal.  She  was  noted  for  her  luxurious  toilets,  and  was  suc- 
cessively attached  to  the  wealthy  Dudley,  Desire  Minoret,  M. 
des  Grassins  (the  Saumur  banker),  and  M.  du  Rouvre;  the 
two  last  mentioned  she  ruined.  Florine's  fortune  increased 
during  the  Monarchy  of  July.  Her  association  with  Nathan 
served  both  their  interests  equally  well ;  the  poet  lauded  the 
actress,  who  in  fact  knew  that  she  was  rendered  formidable 
by  his  intriguing  spirit  and  sharp  sallies.  Mme.  Nathan 
frequented  or  was  visited  by  Coralie,  Esther  "la  Torpille," 
Claudine  du  Bruel,  Euphrasie,  Aquilina,  Mme.  Theodore 
Gaillard,  Marie   Godeschal;    she  admitted   and    entertained 

*  On  the  stage  of  the  Boulevard  du  Temple,  Mme.  Nathan  (Florine) 
henceforth  drew  a  salary  of  eight  thousand  francs. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  39^ 

Emile  Blondet,  Andoche  Finot,  Etienne  Lousteau,  Felicien 
Vernou,  Couture,  Bixiou,  Rastignac,  Vignon,  F.  du  Tillet, 
Nucingen,  and  Conti.  Works  by  Bixiou,  F.  Souchet,  Joseph 
Bridau,  and  H.  Schinner  ornamented  her  apartments.  Marie 
de  Vandenesse,  when  vaguely  smitten  by  Nathan,  would  have 
destroyed  these  delights  and  that  splendor,  but  for  the  devo- 
tion of  the  writer's  mistress  on  one  side  and  the  intervention 
of  de  Vandenesse  on  the  other.  Florine,  having  definitely 
reconquered  Nathan,  did  not  tarry  long  before  she  married 
him  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — A  Distinguished  Provin- 
cial at  Paris,  ilff— Les  Employes,  cc — A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, eT"— Ursule  Mirouet,  S — Eugenie  Grandet,  .JEJ — 
The  Imaginary  Mistress,  Ji — A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF — 
A  Daughter  of  Eve,  "F— The  Unconscious  Mummers,  u — 
The  Harlot's  Progress,   Y,  Z\ 

Navarreins,  Due  de,  born  about  1767,  son-in-law,  by 
his  first  marriage,  of  the  Prince  of  Cadignan ;  the  father  of 
Antoinette  de  Langeais ;  a  relative  of  Mme.  d'Espard ;  a 
cousin  to  Valentin;  accused  of  '*  pride."  He  protected  M. 
du  Bruel  (Cursy)  when  he  first  entered  the  administration ; 
he  had  a  suit  against  the  hospitals  which  he  confided  to  the 
care  of  Maitre  Derville ;  was  decorated ;  he  had  de  la  Bau- 
draye  appointed  receiver  for  '*  having  settled"  a  debt  con- 
tracted during  the  emigration  ;  he  attended  a  family  council 
in  company  with  the  Grandlieus  and  Chaulieus,  when  his 
daughter  compromised  herself  at  Montriveau's  door;  he  wel- 
comed Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  ;  he  held,  near  Ville-aux-Fayes, 
in  the  sub-prefecture  of  the  Auxerrois,  immense  estates  which 
were  respected  by  Gaubertin,  Rigou,  Soudry,  Fourchon,  and 
Tonsard,  Montcornet's  enemies;  he  accompanied  Mme.  d'Es- 
pard to  the  opera-ball,  when  Jacques  Collin  and  Lucien  de 
Rubempre  "puzzled"  the  marquise;  he  sold  the  lands  and 
forest  of  Montegnac,  near  Limoges,  to  the  Graslins  for  five 
hundred  thousand  francs ;  he  knew  Foedora  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  Valentin  ;  he  frequented  the  Princesse  de  Cadignan's, 


394  COMPENDIUM 

after  the  death  of  their  joint  brother-in-law.  The  Due  de 
Navarreins  owned  a  mansion  on  the  Rue  du  Bac,  Paris  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  tT — Colonel  Chabert,  i — Muse  of 
the  Department,  CC — The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  hh — The 
Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa — The  Peasantry,  JK — The  Har- 
lot's Progress,  T"— The  Abb6  Birotteau,  i— The  Wild  Ass* 
Skin,  A — A  Historical  Mystery,  ff—The  Secrets  of  the 
Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^ — Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Negrepelisse,  De,  a  family  which  arose  in  the  Crusades, 
well  known  in  the  time  of  Saint-Louis;  the  name  of  the 
younger  branch  of  "the  illustrious  family"  d'Espard;  car- 
ried, under  the  Restoration,  in  Angoumois,  by  the  father-in- 
law  of  M.  de  Bargeton,  M.  de  Negrepelisse,  an  old  country 
gentleman  of  imposing  figure,  one  of  the  last  representatives 
of  the  old  French  nobility;  mayor  of  I'Escarbas,  peer  of 
France,  commander  of  the  order  of  Saint-Louis.  Negrepelisse 
survived  his  son-in-law  by  some  years  ;  he  welcomed  him  when 
AnaVs  de  Bargeton  returned  to  Paris  in  the  summer  of  1821 
[The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c — A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  Jf^— Lost  Illusions,  N^. 

Negrepelisse,*  Comte  Clement  de,  born  in  1812;  a 
distant  cousin  of  the  foregoing,  who  left  him  his  title.  He 
was  the  eldest  of  two  legitimate  sons  of  the  Marquis  d'Espard. 
He  was  a  student  at  the  college  of  Henri  IV.,  and  lived  in 
Paris  during  the  Restoration,  as  also  did  his  brother,  under 
the  paternal  roof,  Rue  de  la  Montagne-Sainte-Genevieve. 
Comte  de  Negrepelisse  seldom  called  upon  his  mother,  the 
Marquise  d'Espard,  who  lived  alone  in  the  faubourg  Saint- 
Honore  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c\. 

Negro,  Marquis  di,  a  noble  Genoese,  *^a  Hospitalier 
brother  who  knew  every  traveler's  trick";  was,  in  the  year 
1836,  at  the  French  consul-general's,  Genoa,  when  Maur- 
ice de  I'Hostal  told  the  full  history  of  the  separation  and 
reconciliation   of   Octave   de  Bauvan    and   his   wife   before 

*  Spelt  with  the  acute  or  grave  e,  indifferently. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  395 

Damaso  Pareto,*  M.  Claud  Vignon,  Leon  de  Lora,  and 
Felicite  des  Touches  [Honorine,  ife]. 

Nepomucene,  an  abandoned  child ;  Mme.  Vauthier's 
little  servant,  the  managress-jani tress  of  the  house  on  the 
Boulevard  Montparnasse  occupied  by  the  Bourlac  and  Mergi 
families.  Nepomucene  always  wore  a  ragged  blouse,  and,  in 
the  guise  of  shoes,  either  old  slippers  or  sabots.  He  combined 
his  service  for  Mme.  Vauthier  with  working  for  the  wood 
hawkers  in  that  vicinity ;  and  in  the  summer,  on  Sundays  and 
Mondays,  in  waiting  for  a  wine  dealer  near  the  barrier  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Neraud,  one  of  the  doctors  in  Provins  during  the  Restora- 
tion. He  ruined  his  wife,  who  was  the  widow  of  the  grocer 
Auffray,  whom  he  had  married  for  love  and  whom  he  survived. 
He  was  a  "blemished"  man,  a  competitor  of  Dr.  Martener; 
Neraud  belonged  to  the  Liberal  party  of  Gouraud  and  de 
Vinet,  and  faintly  supported  Pierrette  Lorrain  against  the 
Rogrons,  of  whom  she  was  the  ward  and  the  grandchild  of 
Auffray  [Pierrette,  %\. 

Neraud,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  First  married 
to  the  grocer  Auffray,  who  was  sixty-five  years  old ;  she  was 
only  thirty-eight  when  she  became  a  widow ;  she  soon  after 
married  Dr.  Neraud.  By  her  first  marriage  she  had  one 
daughter,  who  was  the  wife  of  Major  Lorrain  and  the  mother 
of  Pierrette.  Mme.  Neraud  died  of  grief  and  poverty  two 
years  after  her  second  marriage.  The  Rogrons,  relatives  by 
the  first  marriage  of  the  widow  Auffray,  had  about  entirely 
despoiled  her  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Nicolas.     See  Montauran,  Marquis  de. 

NicoUe,  an  old  servant,  Jacquotte's,  Dr.  Benassis'  servant, 
deputy  [The  Country  Doctor,  C]. 

Ninette,  born  in  1832;  a  "rat"f  of  the  opera  at  Paris; 

*  To  whom  is  dedicated  "  The  Message,"  the  history  of  the  Montpersan 
couple. 

f  The  term  is  explained  in  the  story. 


396  COMPENDIUM 

was  made  known  to  Gazonal  by  Leon  de  Lora  and  J.  J. 
Bixiou  in  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  li]. 

NioUand,  Abbe,  excellently  educated  by  the  Abbe  Roze. 
Hidden  during  the  Revolution  by  M.  de  Negrepelisse  near 
Barbezieux ;  he  educated  Marie-Louise- Anais,  afterward  Mme. 
de  Bargeton,  and  taught  her  music,  Italian,  and  German. 
He  died  in  1802  [Lost  Illusions,  ^]. 

Niseron,  cure  of  Blangy  before  the  Revolution ;  the  pre- 
decessor of  Abbe  Brossette  in  that  curacy;  uncle  of  Jean- 
Fran9ois  Niseron.  He  was  led,  by  a  frolicsome  and  innocent 
indiscretion  of  his  nephew's  daughter  and  by  the  influence  of 
"  Dom  "  Rigou,  to  disinherit  the  Niserons  to  the  advantage  of 
the  Mesdemoiselles  Pichard,  housekeeper-mistresses  of  his 
[The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Niseron,  Jean-Francois,  beadle,  sacristan,  singer,  bell- 
ringer,  and  grave-digger  of  the  parish  of  Blangy,  under  the 
Restoration  ;  the  nephew  and  sole  heir  of  the  cure  Niseron ; 
born  in  1751.  He  acclaimed  the  Revolution;  was  of  the 
ideal  type  of  Republicanism,  a  sort  of  Michel  Chrestien  in 
the  country;  he  coldly  scorned  the  Pichard  family,  who 
took  from  him  the  succession  to  which  he  only  had  the  right ; 
he  led  a  life  of  poverty  and  neglect ;  nevertheless  he  was  re- 
spected, and  took  the  part  of  Montcornet  represented  by 
Brossette ;  their  adversary,  Gregoire  Rigou,  he  appreciated 
and  feared.  Jean-Frangois  Niseron  successively  lost  his  wife 
and  two  children ;  he  had  none  to  tend  him  in  his  old  age, 
save  only  Genevieve,  the  natural  daughter  of  his  deceased 
son,  Auguste  [The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Niseron,  Auguste,  son  of  the  foregoing ;  a  soldier  of  the 
Republic  and  the  Empire;  a  cannoneer,  in  1809,  he  seduced, 
near  Zahara,  a  Montenegrin,  Zena  Kropoli,  who  died  at  Vin- 
cennes  at  the  beginning  of  1810,  and  by  her  had  a  daughter. 
He  was  not  able  to  realize  his  wish  of  marrying  her.  He 
perished  before  Montereau,  during  the  year  1814,  killed  by  a 
shot  from  a  howitzer  [The  Peasantry,  JB]. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  397 

Niseron,  Genevieve,  the  natural  daughter  of  the  fore- 
going and  Zena  Kropoli ;  born  in  1810,  called  Genevieve 
after  her  paternal  aunt ;  orphaned  when  four  years  of  age,  she 
was  raised  in  Burgundy  by  her  grandfather,  Jean-Frangois  Nise- 
ron. She  had  her  father's  beauty  and  her  mother's  singulari- 
ties. Her  protectors,  Mesdames  de  Montcornet  and  Michaud, 
gave  her  the  name  of  "Pechina,"  and,  to  save  her  from  the 
pursuit  of  Nicolas  Tonsard,  placed  her  in  a  convent  at  Auxerre, 
where. she  was  told  to  learn  dressmaking  and  to  forget  Justin 
Michaud,  whom  she  unconsciously  loved  [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Noel,  the  clerk  of  Jean-Jules  Popinot,  Paris,  1828,  at  the 
time  when  the  judge  questioned  Marquis  d'Espard,  on  whom 
his  wife  had  asked  an  "interdiction"  [The  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  c]. 

Noswell,  Mrs.,  a  rich  and  eccentric  Englishwoman  who 
descended  upon  Paris  about  the  middle  of  Louis-Philippe's 
reign ;  at  the  Hotel  Lawson.  She  bought  a  shawl  called  the 
*'Selim,"  after  some  hesitation,  from  Fritot,  who  protested 
that  it  was  "  impossible"  to  sell  it  to  any  one  else  [Gaudis- 
sart  n.,  n\ 

Nouastre,  Baron  de,  an  emigrant,  of  the  most  noble 
blood.  He  returned  ruined  to  Alen^on,  in  1800,  with  his 
daughter,  aged  twenty-two,  and  received  an  asylum  in  the 
home  of  the  d'Esgrignons,  dying  there  three  years  later, 
consumed  by  grief.  The  marquis  married  the  orphan  shortly 
after  his  death  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  aa\. 

Nourrisson,  Madame,  was  once,  under  the  Empire, 
attached  to  the  service  of  Prince  d'Ysembourg,  Paris.  She 
saw  the  licentiousness  of  the  great  world  during  this  time, 
and  this  decided  the  lucrative  profession  of  Mme.  Nourrisson, 
who  became  a  dealer  in  second-hand  clothing,  on  the  Rue 
Neuve-Saint-Marc,  and  also  the  mistress  of  houses  of  ill- 
fame.  She  had  strict  business  relations,  which  extended  over 
twenty  years,  with  Jacqueline  Collin,  and  she  prospered  in 
this  double  commerce.     The  two  matrons  at  times  voluntarily 


398  COMPENDIUM 

exchanged  their  names,  signs,  resources,  and  profits.  It  was 
in  the  *' second-hand  clothes"  store  that  Frederic  de  Nu- 
cingen  bargained  for  Esther  van  Gobseck.  About  the  end 
of  Charles  X.'s  reign,  one  of  Mme.  Nourrisson's  establish- 
ments, situated  on  the  Rue  Saint-Barbe,  was  managed  by  la 
Gonore ;  in  Louis-Philippe's  time,  another,  a  clandestine  one, 
existed  near  the  *'fort  called  the  Italiens,"*  where  Valerie 
Marneffe  and  Wenceslas  Steinbock  were  surprised.  Mme. 
Nourrisson,  the  first  of  the  name,  did  not  retain  any  of  her 
stores  except  the  one  on  the  Rue  Saint-Marc,  since,  during 
the  year  1845,  ^^^  there  gave  the  details  about  Mme.  Mahuchet 
before  an  audience  composed  of  Bixiou,  Lora,  and  Gazonal, 
and  added  particulars  of  her  own  history  [The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, T^  Z — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DJ} — Cousin  Betty,  w 
— The  Unconscious  Mummers,  -^J. 

Nouvion,  CoMTE  de,  a  gentleman  who  returned  ruined 
from  the  emigration,  a  chevalier  of  Saint-Louis;  lived  in  Paris 
in  1828  on  the  charity  delicately  extended  him  by  his  friend 
the  Marquis  d'Espard,  who  engaged  him  to  oversee  the  publi- 
cation of  "I'Histoire  pittoresque  de  la  Chine,"  at  22  Rue  de 
la  Montagne  Saint  Genevidve ;  he  was  also  a  partner  in  the 
possible  profits  of  that  work  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Nucingen,  Baron  Frederic  de,  probably  born  at  Stras- 
bourg about  1767.  At  first  he  was  one  of  M.  d'Aldrigger's 
clerks,  in  his  bank  in  Alsace.  Wiser  than  his  employer,  he 
placed  no  confidence  in  the  Emperor's  final  success,  in  1815, 
but  cunningly  speculated  on  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo. Nucingen  was  at  that  time  already  operating  on  his  own 
account  in  Paris  and  elsewhere  ;  he  slowly  prepared  the  famous 
house  on  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare,f  and  there  founded  the  mak- 
ing of  a  fortune,  which,  under  Louis-Philippe,  amounted  to 
nearly  eighteen  millions.     About  this  time  he  married  one  of 

*  Without  doubt,  the  Place  Boieldieu. 

f  This  firm  must  have  been  situated  in  that  portion  of  the  Rue  Saint- 
Lazare  which  is  near  the  end  of  the  real  Rue  de  Chateaudun. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  399 

the  two  daughters  of  a  rich  vermicilli  manufacturer,  Mile. 
Delphine  Goriot,  who  had  a  daughter,  Augusta,  by  him,  and 
who  afterward  married  Eugene  de  Rastignac.  The  early 
years  of  the  Restoration  was  the  time  from  which  he  dated 
his  real  splendor,  the  result  of  an  association  with  the  Kellers, 
Ferdinand  du  Tillet,  and  Eugene  de  Rastignac  in  "  the  coup'* 
of  the  Wortschin  mines,  which  followed  one  of  the  "oppor- 
tune" liquidations  of  the  wily  banker.  These  various  com- 
binations ruined  the  Ragons,  Aiglemonts,  Aldriggers,  and 
Beaudenord.  Also  during  this  period  Nucingen,  although  he 
spoke  with  a  certain  frank  good  humor,  refused  the  credit 
that  Cesar  Birotteau  implored  him  to  grant.  One  time  there 
was  in  the  life  of  the  banker  when  he  seemed  to  completely 
change  his  nature  ;  this  was  when  he  was  smitten  by  and  fell 
so  foolishly  in  love  with  Esther  van  Gobseck ;  he  made  his 
doctor,  Bianchon,  very  uneasy;  he  employed  Corentin, 
Georges,  Louchard,  and  Peyrade  in  his  quest,  and  became 
the  prey  of  Jacques  Collin.  After  Esther's  suicide,  in  May, 
1830,  he  deserted  ''Cythere,"  as  had  also  Chardin  des 
Lupeaulx  at  another  time,  and  again  became  the  man  and 
clerk  ;  he  was  covered  with  favors :  decorations,  the  peerage, 
and  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  all  came  to  him. 
Nucingen  was  respected  and  highly  thought  of  in  spite  of  his 
naivetes  and  rough  German  accent ;  he  protected  Beaudenord  ; 
was  a  frequenter  of  Minister  Cointet's;  he  penetrated  every- 
where; at  Mile,  des  Touches*  he  heard  de  Marsay  tell  his 
memoirs  of  love;  he  was  in  Mme.  d'Espard's  salon  at  the 
time  when  Daniel  d'Arthez  heard  and  defended  the  slanders 
against  Diane  de  Cadignan ;  he  led  Maxime  de  Trailles  into 
the  hands  or  clutches  of  Claparon-Cerizet ;  invited  by  Josepha 
Mirah,  he  was  at  her  installation  011  the  Rue  de  la  Ville 
I'Eveque.  Nucingen,  together  with  Cottin  de  Wissembourg, 
was  the  young  girl's  witness  when  Wenceslas  Steinbock  mar- 
ried Hortense  Hulot.  Their  father,  Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy, 
indeed,  borrowed  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  francs 


400  COMPENDIUM 

from  him.  Baron  de  Nucingen  assisted,  as  godfather,  Poly- 
dore  de  la  Baudraye,  just  promoted  a  peer  of  France.  The 
friend  of  Ferdinand  du  Tillet,  he  was  one  of  the  familiars  in 
Carabine's  boudoir,  on  a  certain  evening  in  1845  ;  i"  ^^^'^ 
place  he  saw  Jenny  Cadine,  Gazonal,  Bixiou,  Leon  de  Lora, 
Massol,  Claud  Vignon,  Trailles,  F.  du  Bruel,  Vauvinet,  Mar- 
guerite Turquet,  and  the  Gaillards*  [The  Firm  of  Nucin- 
gen, t — Father  Goriot,  G — Pierrette,  i — Cesar  Birotteau,  O 
— A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  3L — The  Harlot's 
Progress,  ![,  Zr — Another  Study  of  Woman,  I — A  Man  of 
Business,  I — The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z — 
Cousin  Betty,  w — Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — The  Un- 
conscious Mummers,  iC\. 

Nucingen,  Baronne  Delphine  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ; 
born  in  1792;  a  blonde,  the  lively  daughter  of  Jean-Joachim 
Goriot,  the  wealthy  vermicilli  manufacturer  ;  her  mother  (who 
died  young)  being  the  granddaughter  of  a  farmer.  In  the  last 
years  of  the  Empire  she  made  a  marriage  for  money,  which 
she  had  always  desired.  Mme.  de  Nucingen  once  had  Henri 
de  Marsay  as  her  lover,  but  he  ended  by  brutally  deserting 
her.  Reduced,  under  Louis  XVIH.,  to  the  necessity  of  accept- 
ing the  society  of  the  Chaussee-d'Antin,  she  aspired  for  ad- 
mission to  that  of  the  faubourg  Saint- Germain,  into  which 
her  sister,  Mme.  de  Restaud,  had  already  penetrated.  Eugene 
de  Rastignac  opened  to  her  Mme.  de  Beauseant's  salon  (she  was 
his  cousin),  on  the  Rue  de  Crenelle,  in  1819,  and  became  her 
lover  at  the  same  time.  Their  liaison  lasted  over  fifteen 
years.  A  suite  of  rooms  was  fitted  up  for  them  by  Jean- 
Joachim  Goriot  on  the  Rue  d'Artois,  in  which  to  shelter  their 
first  amours.  She  confided  a  certain  amount  of  money  to 
Rastignac  so  that  he  might  go  and  play  at  the  Palais-Royal ; 
he  won,  and  with  the  money  thus  gained  the  baronne  was  able 

*  The  biography  of  Frederic  de  Nucingen  fails  to  mention  the  purchase 
of  a  picture  from  Joseph  Bridau  by  the  baron;  it  was  praised  by  Esther 
van  Gobseck,  and  he  paid  ten  thousand  francs  for  it. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  401 

to  liberate  herself  from  a  humiliating  debt  that  she  owed  de 
Marsay.  Meanwhile  she  lost  her  father ;  Nucingen's  equipage 
followed  the  hearse,  but  the  carriage  was  empty  [Father 
Goriot,  6r].  Mme.  de  Nucingen  often  received  on  the  Rue 
Saint-Lazare  Auguste  de  Maulincour,  who  there  saw  Clem- 
ence  Desmarets,  and  Adolphe  des  Grassins,  who  there  met 
Charles  Grandet  [Ferragus,  &&— Eugenie  Grandet,  E\ 
Cesar  Birotteau,  when  he  went  to  implore  the  baron's  assist- 
ance, and  Rodolphe  Castanier,  directly  after  his  forgery,  are 
also  found  in  the  baronne's  presence  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — 
Melmoth  Reconciled,  d\  At  this  time  Mme.  de  Nucingen 
took  a  box  at  the  opera  which  had  once  been  Antoinette  de 
Langeais',  ''thinking,  without  doubt,"  said  Mme.  d'Espard, 
"  that  she  would  also  have  her  graces,  her  spirit,  and  success  " 
[A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  il[f— The  Commission  in 
Lunacy,  c].  According  to  Diane  de  Cadignan,  when  Del- 
phine  was  going  to  Naples  by  sea,  she  had  a  terrible  fright 
as  the  memory  of  all  her  sins  crowded  upon  her  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  ^.  Mme.  de  Nucingen  was  a  witness  of  and 
mocked  at  the  way  in  which  her  husband  had  been  smitten  by 
Esther  van  Gobseck  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y].  Forgetful 
of  her  origin,  she  hoped  to  see  her  daughter  Augusta  become 
the  Duchesse  d'Herouville ;  they  knew  the  troubled  source 
from  whence  flowed  the  Nucingen  millions  and  refused  the 
alliance  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK. — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 
She  heard  de  Marsay  recite  the  story  of  his  first  love  at 
Felicite  des  Touches'  in  1830  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\. 
Delphine  assisted  Marie  de  Vandenesse  and  Nathan  by  lend- 
ing them  forty  thousand  francs  during  their  tumultuous  love 
scenes;  indeed,  it  much  reminded  her  of  her  own  life  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  "F].  About  the  middle  of  the  Monarchy 
of  July,  Mme.  de  Nucingen,  the  mother-in-law  of  Eugene  de 
Rastignac,  frequented  Mme.  d'Espard's  and  saw,  on  the 
faubourg  Saint-Honore,  Maxime  de  Trailles  and  Ferdinand 
du  Tillet  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  iyjy\. 
26 


402  COMPENDIUM 

Nueil,  De,  the  owner  of  the  ancient  domain  of  the 
Manervilles,  which,  without  doubt,  went  to  the  youngest  son, 
Gaston  [A  Forsaken  Woman,  Ti\. 

Nueil,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  surviving  her 
husband  and  her  eldest  son,  she  became  the  Dowager  Countess 
de  Nueil ;  she  then  possessed  the  Manerville  domain,  to  which 
she  retired.  She  was  the  type  of  a  *' calculating  mother," 
rigid  and  strict  before  the  world.  She  caused  her  son  to 
marry,  and  was  the  involuntary  cause  of  his  death  [A  For- 
saken Woman,  /i]. 

Nueil,  De,  the  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing ;  he  died  of 
consumption,  under  Louis  XVIIL,  leaving  the  title  of  Comte 
de  Nueil  to  his  younger  brother  [A  Forsaken  Woman,  li\. 

Nueil,  Gaston  de,  son  and  brother  of  the  foregoing,  born 
about  1799;  of  good  extraction  and  decent  fortune.  In  1822 
he  went  to  Bayeux,  where  he  had  family  connections,  so  that 
he  might  recover  from  his  Parisian  fatigues ;  there  he  had  the 
chance  of  forcing  the  door  of  Claire  de  Beauseant,  who  had 
condemned  herself  to  a  solitary  life,  after  her  desertion  by 
Miguel  d'Ajuda-Pinto  on  his  marriage  to  Berthe  de  Roche- 
fide  ;  he  loved  and  was  beloved,  and  for  nearly  ten  years  lived 
in  marital  relationship  with  her  in  both  Normandy  and 
Switzerland.  Albert  Savarus  in  his  autobiographical  novel, 
"  I'Ambitieux  paramour,"  vaguely  mentions  them  as  being 
installed  by  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  After  the  Revolution  of 
1830,  Gaston  de  Nueil,  already  rich  in  Norman  pastures 
which  brought  him  an  income  of  eighteen  thousand  francs, 
married  the  wealthy  Mile.  Stephanie  de  la  Rodiere.  Tired 
of  his  household  gods,  he  would  have  returned  to  Mme.  de 
Beauseant.  The  haughty  declination  of  his  former  mistress 
exasperated  Nueil,  and  he  killed  himself  in  chagrin  [A  For- 
saken Woman,  li — Albert  Savaron,  jf  ]. 

Nueil,  Madame  Gaston  de,  nee  Stephanie  de  la 
Rodiere  about  181 2;  a  very  insignificant  person;  she  mar- 
ried Gaston  de  Nueil,  to  whom  she  brought  an  income  of 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  403 

forty  thousand  francs,  in  the  early  part  of  Louis-Philippe's 
reign.  She  was  enceinte  after  the  first  month  of  her  wedding. 
She  became  Comtesse  de  Nueil  by  the  death  of  her  brother- 
in-law;  deserted  by  Gaston,  she  still  continued  to  live  in 
Normandy.  Mme.  Gaston  de  Nueil  survived  her  husband 
[A  Forsaken  Woman,  }i\. 


O'Flaharty,  Major,  the  maternal  uncle  of  Raphael  de 
Valentin ;  he  bequeathed  the  latter  ten  millions  of  francs ; 
he  died  in  Calcutta,  August,  1828  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\, 

Oignard  was,  in  November,  1806,  the  head  clerk  to  Maitre 
Bordin,  an  attorney  at  Paris  [A  Start  in  Life,  8\ 

Olga,  a  daughter  of  the  Topinards,  born  about  1840;  she 
had  not  yet  become  legitimized  by  her  parents'  marriage, 
when  Schmucke  saw  her  with  them ;  he  loved  her  for  her 
German  yellow  hair  [Cousin  Pons,  sc]. 

Olivet,  an  attorney  at  AngoulSme,  to  whom  succeeded 
Petit-Claud  [Lost  Illusions,  1^\ 

Olivier  was  in  the  service  of  the  police  spies,  Corentin 
and  Peyrade,  at  the  time  they  tracked  the  Hauteserres  and 
Simeuses  of  the  Cinq-Cygne  family,  near  Arcis,  in  1803  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff^ 

Olivier,  M.  and  Madame,  were  once  attaches  of  the  house 
of  Charles  X.  as  huntsman  and  sempstress,  respectively;  they 
were  burdened  with  three  children,  of  whom  the  eldest  became? 
a  petty  clerk  to  a  notary ;  after  this  they  were,  under  Louis- 
Philippe,  janitors  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  du  Doyenne — then 
the  Rue  Vaneau — in  which  the  Marneffes  and  Mile.  Fischer 
resided,  to  whom,  either  out  of  interest  or  gratitude,  they 
were  entirely  and  exclusively  devoted  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Orfano,  Due  d',  the  title  of  nobility  of  Marechal  Cottin. 


404  COMPENDIUM 

We  know  that  in  Venice  there  is  an  Orfano*  canal  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Orgemont,  D',  a  rich  and  avaricious  banker,  a  land- 
owner at  Fougeres  ;  he  bought  the  Juvigny  abbey  lands.  He 
remained  neutral  during  the  Chouan  insurrection  of  1799; 
near  Coupiau  he  saw  Galope-Chopine  and  Mesdames  du  Gua- 
Saint-Cyr  and  de  Montauran  [The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Orgemont,  D',  brother  of  the  foregoing;  a  Breton  priest 
who  took  the  oath;  he  died  in  1795,  and  was  buried  in  a 
hiding-place  which  he  had  discovered;  he  assured  M. 
d' Orgemont,  the  banker,  that  he  could  preserve  him  from 
the  ferocious  Vendeans  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Origet,  a  physician  of  repute  in  Tours ;  he  was  known  by 
the  Mortsaufs,  the  lords  of  the  manor  of  Clochegourde  [The 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Orsonval,  Madame  d'  ;  she  frequented  the  Cruchot  and 
Grandet  families  at  Saumur  [Eugenie  Grandet,  _EJ]. 

Ossian,  a  lackey  in  the  service  of  Mougin,  the  famous 
Parisian  hair-dresser.  Place  de  la  Bourse,  1845.  Ossian,  who 
was  detailed  to  admit  the  **  clients,"  escorted  Bixiou,  Lora, 
and  Gazonal  into  the  establishment  [The  Unconscious  Mum- 
mers, %C\. 

Ottoboni,  an  Italian  conspirator,  a  refugee  in  Paris;  in 
1831  he  dined  at  Giardini's,  Rue  Froidmanteau,f  and  there 
met  the  Gambaras  [Gambara,  hh\ 

Ozalga,  a  Spaniard,  recommended  Baron  de  Macumer 
to  the  Parisians  of  his  own  knowledge  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  1^]. 

*  The  gondoliers  of  modern  Venice  call  it  the  Orfanello  Canal, 
f  The  improvements  and  enlargement  of  the  Rivoli,  Palais-Royal,  and 
Louvre  quarters  have  caused  the  total  disappearance  of  this  street. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  405 


Paccard,  a  liberated  convict  and  dependent  of  Jacques 
Collin ;  a  thieving,  drunken  bum.  The  lover  of  Prudence 
Servien,  and,  at  the  same  time  and  place  as  her,  a  footman 
to  Esther  van  Gobseck.  In  1829  he  was  domiciled  on  the  Rue 
de  Provence,*  in  the  house  of  a  coach-builder;,  he  stole  the 
seven  hundi^d  and  fifty  thousand  francs  which  formed  the 
succession  of  Jean-Esther  van  Gobseck ;  he  was  compelled  to 
make  restitution  of  seven  hundred  thousand  francs  [The 
Harlot's  Progress,    T,  Z\ 

Paccard,  Mademoiselle,  sister  of  the  foregoing ;  she  was 
also  a  dependent  on  Jacques  Collin  and  his  aunt,  Jacqueline 
Collin  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\^    , 

Paddy.     See  Toby. 

Palma,  a  Parisian  banker,  in  the  faubourg  Poissonni^re. 
Under  two  regimes,  those  of  the  Restoration  and  July,  he  had 
great  renown  as  a  financier.  *'  He  was  the  intimate  adviser 
of  the  Keller  firm."  Birotteau,  the  perfumer,  vainly  implored 
his  aid,  when  his  affairs  were  embarrassed  [The  Firm  of  Nu- 
cingen,  t — Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  The  partner  of  Werbrust, 
he  counted  among  his  equals  Gobseck  and  Bidault ;  he  could 
have  served  Lucien  de  Rubempre  [Gobseck,  g — A  Distin- 
guished Provincial  at  Paris,  W\.  With  Werbrust,  Palma 
also  kept  a  store  in  which  were  sold  muslin,  calico,  laces,  and 
printed  linens,  No.  5  Rue  du  Sentier,  at  the  time  when  Maxi- 
milien  Longueville  frequented  the  Fontaines  [The  Sceaux 
Ball,  u]. 

Pamiers,  Vidame  de,  *'the  oracle  of  the  faubourg  Saint- 
Germain  under  the  Restoration";  was  one  of  the  family 
council  called  in  reference  to  the  escapades  of  his  great -niece, 
Antoinette  de  Langeais,  who  had  compromised  herself  at 
*  To  this  has  now  been  added  the  old  Rue  Saint-Nicolas. 


406  COMPENDIUM 

Montriveau's  door  [The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  6&].  An  ex- 
commander  of  the  Order  of  Malta,  he  was  a  type  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth ;  he  was  an 
old  and  very  intimate  friend  of  the  Baronne  de  Maulincour ; 
Pamiers  brought  up  the  young  Baron  Auguste  de  Maulincour, 
and  defended  him  against  Bourignard's  hate  [Ferragus,  hh\ 
Formerly  in  correspondence  with  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon, 
the  vidame  presented  Victurnien,  his  son,  to  Diane  de  Mau- 
frigneuse :  an  intimate  liaison  followed  between  the  young 
man  and  the  future  Princesse  de  Cadignan  [The  Collection  of 
Antiquities,  a(l\. 

Pannier,  a  trader  and  banker,  since  1794;  the  **  Brigands' " 
treasurer;  implicated  in  the  Chauffeurs'  uprising,  1809.  He 
was  condemned  to  twenty  years'  hard  labor,  and  sent  to  the 
hulks.  He  was  appointed  lieutenant-general  under  Louis 
XVin.;  he  was  governor  of  a  royal  castle;  he  died,  leaving 
no  children  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Paradis,  born  in  1830;  Maxime  de  Trailles'  "tiger"; 
cheeky,  but  intelligent ;  taken  by  his  master  to  Arcis-sur- 
Aube,  in  the  spring  of  1839,  during  the  election  period;  he 
there  knew  Goulard,  the  sub-prefect;  Poupart,  the  innkeeper; 
and  the  Cinq-Cygne,  Maufrigneuse,  and  Mollot  families  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DX)]. 

Parquoi,  Francois,  one  of  the  Chouans  for  whom  Abbe 
Gudin  celebrated  a  funeral  mass  in  the  depth  of  the  trees,  not 
far  from  Foug^res,  in  the  fall  of  1799  ;  as  he  did,  also,  for  Jean 
Cochegrue,  Nicolas  Laferte,  Joseph  Brouet,  and  Sulpice  Cou- 
piau,  who,  like  Francois  Parquoi,  died  of  wounds  received  in  the 
battle  of  Pelerine,  or  at  the  siege  of  Fougeres  [The  Chou- 
ans, ^]. 

Pascal,  the  janitor  of  the  Thuilliers'  house  on  the  Place  de 
Madeleine;  he  also  performed  the  duties  of  beadle  at  the 
church  of  the  same  name  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Pascal,  Abbe:,  almoner  at  the  Limoges  prison  in  1829;  an 
old  man  **  full  of  gentleness  "  ;  he  could  not  prevail  on  Jean- 


COMjkDIE  HUMAINE.  40? 

Francois  Tascheron,  a  prisoner,  to  make  his  confession, 
although  guilty  of  robbery  followed  by  assassination  [The 
Country  Parson,  F\ 

Pastelot,  a  priest  at  the  church  of  Saint-Frangois  in  the 
Marais,*  in  1845  'i  ^^  ^^^  present  at  Sylvain  Pons'  death 
[Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Pastureau,  Jean-Francois,  the  owner  of  a  'Apiece  of 
land,"  in  I'lsere,  damaged  by  a  passage  made  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Dr.  Benassis  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Patrat,  a  notary  at  Fougeres  in  1799;  known  by  the 
banker  d'Orgemont  and  recommended  to  Marie  de  Verneuil 
by  the  old  miser  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Patriote,  an  ape  which  belonged  to  Marie  de  Verneuil, 
and  which  she  dressed  to  imitate  Danton.  The  animal's 
cunning  nature  called  Corentin  to  Marie's  mind  [The  Chou- 
ans, ^]. 

Paul,  a  servant  to  Maitre  Petit-Claud,  AngoulSme,  1822 
[Lost  Illusions,  l>f\ 

Pauline  was  for  a  long  time  chambermaid  to  Julie  d' Aigle- 
mont  \k.  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\ 

Paulmier,  an  employe  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in 
Flamet  de  la  Billardiere's  division  and  Isidore  Baudoyer's 
office,  under  the  Restoration.  Paulmier,  a  bachelor,  was 
continually  quarreling  with  his  married  colleague,  Chazelles 
[Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Paz,  Thaddee,  Polish  ;  the  descendant  of  an  illustrious 
family  of  Florence,  the  Pazzi,  one  of  whose  members,  perse- 
cuted, took  refuge  in  Poland.  A  compatriot,  of  the  same  age, 
and  a  friend  of  Comte  Mitgislas  Laginski,  Paz,  like  him, 
fought  for  his  country,  and  followed  him  in  exile  to  Paris, 
during  Loiiis-Philippe's  reign ;  he  accepted,  on  account  of 
his  poverty,  the  duties  of  steward  to  the  count.  Paz — 
now  pronounced  Pac,  and  he  held  the  title  of  captain  of 
volunteers — managed  the  Laginski  mansion  most  admirably, 
*  Really  situated  on  the  Rue  Chariot. 


408  COMPENDIUM 

but  he  left  when,  strongly  smitten  by  Clementine  Laginska, 
he  found  himself  unable  to  longer  hold  out  against  his  passion ; 
he  had  taken  an  ''Imaginary  Mistress"  in  the  person  of  the 
circus-girl,  Marguerite  Turquet.  Captain  Thaddee  saw  the 
Steinbocks  married ;  he  pretended  to  leave  France,  but  once 
more  appeared  to  the  countess,  during  the  winter  of  1842, 
when  he  carried  her  away  from  Rusticoli  de  la  Palferine  [The 
Imaginary  Mistress,  Tl — Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Pechina,  La,  Genevieve  Niseron's  nickname. 

Pederotti,  II  Signor,  Maurice  de  THostal's  wife's  father. 
He  was  a  banker  at  Genoa ;  he  dowered  his  only  daughter 
with  a  million  francs  when  she  married  the  French  consul ; 
six  months  later  he  died,  January,  1831,  and  left  her  a  fortune 
valued  at  two  millions  gained  by  trading  in  grain.  Pederotti 
had  been  made  count  by  the  King  of  Sardinia ;  as  he  left  no 
masculine  posterity  the  title  died  with  him  [Honorine,  /?]. 

Pelletier,  one  of  Benassis'  aides  in  I'lsere;  he  died  in 
1829,  and  was  buried  the  same  day  as  the  last  of  the  '*  cretins'* 
preserved  by  the  superstition  of  that  commune.  Pelletier  left 
a  widow — who  saw  Genestas — and  numerous  children,  the 
eldest  of  which,  Jacques,  was  born  about  1807  [The  Country 
Doctor,  (7]. 

Penelope,*  a  Norman  brown-bay  mare,  foaled  in  1792; 
cared  for  with  the  greatest  solicitude  by  Jacquelin ;  she  still 
carried  them  to  the  Prebaudet  in  181 6;  Rose  Cormon,  her 
mistress,  dearly  loved  her.  Penelope  died  during  the  year 
last  mentioned,  1816,  after  the  marriage  of  Mile.  Cormon,  who 
became  Mme.  du  Bousquier  [The  Old  Maid,  a(l\. 

Pen-Hoel,  Jacqueline  de,  of  a  Breton  family  of  the 
highest  antiquity;  she  lived  at  Guerande,  where  she  was  born 
about  1780.  The  sister-in-law  of  the  Kergarouets  of  Nantes 
(the  protectors  of  Major  Brigaut),  who  feared  no  one  in  the 

*  With  Penelope  ends  the  biographies  of  animals.  The  compilers  of 
the  Compendium  think  that  these  biographies,  only  few  in  number,  are 
not  likely  to  be  of  much  interest  to  the  reader. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  409 

country ;  Jacqueline  extended  a  warm  welcome  to  the  daugh- 
ters of  her  younger  sister,  Vicomtesse  de  Kergarouet.  Of  her 
nieces  Mile,  de  Pen-Hoel  particularly  favored  the  eldest, 
Charlotte ;  she  computed  her  dower  and  desired  that  she 
should  marry  Calyste  du  Guenic,  the  lover  of  Felicite  des 
Touches  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Perotte  served  Rose  Cormon,  Alen9on,  in  1816,  who 
became  Mme.  du  Bousquier  [The  Old  Maid,  aa]. 

Peroux,  Abbe,  the  brother  of  Mme.  JuUiard ;  cure  of 
Provins  during  the  Restoration  [Pierrette,  -t]. 

Perrache,  a  little  hunchback,  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  and 
the  janitor,  in  1840,  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  Honore-Chevalier 
belonging  to  Corentin  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Perrache,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  called 
upon  Mme.  Cardinal,  Toupillier's  niece,  with  whom  she  had 
some  drugged  wine  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Perret,  Grossetete's  partner;  both  were  bankers  at  Limoges 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century;  Pierre  Graslin 
succeeded  them  [The  Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Perret,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  quite  old  in  1829; 
like  all  Limoges  she  was  much  concerned  in  the  assassina- 
tion committed  that  year  by  Jean-Francois  Tascheron  [The 
Country  Parson,  F\ 

Perrotet  was,  in  1819,  one  of  Felix  Grandet's  tenants  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Saumur  [Eugenie  Grandet,  _E7]. 

Petit-Claud,  the  son  of  a  "poor  enough  tailor'*  at 
I'Houmeau,  a  suburb  of  Angouleme;  he  was  a  student  in  the 
school  in  that  town ;  he  there  knew  Lucien  de  Rubempr^ ; 
from  thence  he  went  to  Poitiers.  Returning  to  the  chief 
town  of  the  Charente,  he  became  the  attorney  Maitre  Olivet's 
clerk,  and  succeeded  him.  From  then  on  Petit-Claud  took 
vengeance  of  the  scorn  which  resulted  from  his  lack  of  fortune 
and  ungraceful  exterior.  He  met  the  printer  Cointet  and 
served  him,  although  appearing  to  defend  David  Sechard's 
interests,  who  was  also  a  printer.     This  conduct  opened  to 


410  COMPENDIUM 

him  a  career  in  the  magistracy.  We  see  him  a  deputy-prose- 
cutor and  public-prosecutor.  Petit-Claud  never  left  Angou- 
Idme;  he  there  made  a  marriage  of  convenience,  in  1822,  with 
Mile.  Frangoise  de  la  Haye,  the  natural  daughter  of  Francis 
du  Hautoy  and  Mme.  de  Senonches  [Lost  Illusions,  ^T]. 

Petit-Claud,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the  natural 
daughter  of  Francis  du  Hautoy  and  Mme.  Senonches,  nee 
Frangoise  de  la  Haye ;  she  was  confided  to  the  care  of  Mme. 
Cointet,  the  Cointets'  mother;  by  the  good  offices  of  the 
**  Big  Cointet,"  her  son,  she  married  her  to  Petit-Claud.  She 
was  insignificant  in  appearance,  but  pretentious,  and  had  an 
adequate  dowry  [Lost  Illusions,  JV]. 

Peyrade,  born  about  1758  in  the  Comtat,  Provence;  one  of 
a  large  arid  poor  family,  who  scarcely  made  a  living  off"  a  mean 
estate  called  Canquoelle.  Peyrade,  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade's 
paternal  uncle,  was  noble,  but  lost  to  them.  He  left  Avignon 
for  Paris  in  the  year  1776.  Two  years  later  he  was  admitted 
into  the  police.  Lenoir  greatly  esteemed  him.  His  dissipa- 
tion and  vices  hindered  his  advancement,  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  brilliant  and  enduring.  He  really  possessed 
in  a  marked  degree  the  genius  of  espionage  and  the  real  faculty 
of  administration.  Fouch6  utilized  him  and  made  him  Cor- 
entin's  deputy  in  the  matter  of  Gondreville's  fictitious  abduc- 
tion. As  a  kind  of  minister  of  police  he  was  sent  to  Holland. 
Louis  XVIII.  consulted  and  employed  him,  but  Charles  X. 
gave  the  **ecart  "  (bounce)  to  his  humble  servitor.  Peyrade 
was  wretchedly  lodged  on  the  Rue  des  Moineaux,  where  we 
find  him  caring  for  his  daughter  Lydie,  whom  he  worshiped ; 
she  was  born  of  his  relationship  with  la  Beaumesnil  of  the 
Comedie-Fran^aise.  Under  peculiar  circumstances  he  met  de 
Nucingen,  who  engaged  him  to  search  for  Esther  van  Gobseck 
and  to  ferret  out  the  abode  of  that  courtesan  ;  the  chief  of 
police,  by  the  interposition  of  the  pseudo-abb6  Carlos  Herrera, 
interfered,  and  would  not  allow  a  further  surveillance,  and 
asked  a  particular  account  of  what  had  already  been  done. 


COMtDIE  HUMAINE.  411 

In  spite  of  the  protection  of  his  friend  Corentin,  and  notwith- 
standing the  genius  of  the  police-spy  himself,  who  worked 
under  the  pseudonym  of  Canquoelle  and  Saint-Germain  (no- 
tably shown  in  the  arrest  of  Felix  Gaudissart),  Peyrade  came 
out  second  best  in  his  struggle  with  Jacques  Collin.  His 
transformation  into  a  scientific  nabob,  who  kept  Mme.  Theo- 
dore Gaillard,  exasperated  the  old  convict,  who,  during  the 
last  year  of  the  Restoration,  took  his  vengeance :  his  daughter 
Lydie  was  abducted  and  violated  and  Peyrade  himself  poisoned 
[A  Historical  Mystery,  jf/"— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z\ 

Peyrade,  Lydie.*  See  La  Peyrade,  Madame  Theo- 
dose  de. 

Phellion,  born  in  1 780 ;  the  husband  of  a  wife  originally 
of  the  Perche  ;  the  father  of  three  children — two  sons,  Felix 
and  Marie-Theodore,  and  a  daughter,  who  became  Mme. 
Barniol.  He  was  compiling-clerk  in  Rabourdin's  office  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance,  and  still  performed  that  function  until 
the  end  of  the  year  1824.  He  sustained  Rabourdin,  who 
had  often  defended  him ;  he  lived  on  the  Rue  du  Faubourg- 
Saint-Jacques,  near  the  Sourds-Muets ;  he  also  taught  history, 
literature,  and  elementary  morals  to  the  pupils  of  Mesde- 
moiselles  La  Grave.  The  Revolution  of  July  made  no 
change  in  his  manner.  When  he  retired  he  did  not  quit 
his  old  quarter,  but  remained  domiciled  there  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  At  a  cost  of  eighteen  thousand  francs  he  bought 
a  small  house  in  the  Impasse  f  des  Feuillantines,  in  which  he 
went  to  live,  and  ornamented  it  in  the  solemn  manner  of  the 
middle-classes.  Phellion  was  a  major  in  the  National  Guard. 
He  largely  preserved  his  old  acquaintances ;  he  frequented  or 
met  Baudoyer,  Dutocq,  Fleury,  Godard,  Laudigeois,  Rabour- 

*  In  1882,  under  the  title  of  "Lydie,"  a  part  of  the  life  of  Peyrade's 
daughter  formed  a  play  which  was  placed  on  the  stage  of  the  Theatre 
des  Nations — now  the  Theatre  de  Paris — but  the  author  did  not  publish 
the  piece. 

\  A  blind- court  or  alley 


412  COMPENDIUM 

din,  the  eldest  Mme.  Poiret,  and  oftener  the  Colleville, 
Thuillier,  and  Minard  families.  Politics  and  the  arts  took 
up  his  hours  of  leisure.  He  became  a  member  of  the  **  read- 
ing committee"  at  the  Odeon  theatre.  His  electoral  in- 
fluence and  voice  were  sought  by  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  on 
behalf  of  Jerome  Thuillier,  who  desired  the  honor  of  being 
elected  to  the  municipal  council — for  Phellion  had  another 
candidate — Horace  Bianchon,  a  relation  of  the  venerable  J. 
J.  Popinot  [Les  Employes,  cc — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Phellion,  Madame,  wife  of  the  preceding;  belonging  to 
a  family  located  in  the  West.  By  reason  of  the  number  of 
her  children,  Vhich  rendered  their  income  insufficient — as  it 
was  not  more  than  nine  thousand  francs,  pension  and  divi- 
dends included — she  continued,  under  Louis-Philippe,  to  give 
lessons  in  "harmony"  and  music,  the  same  as  she  had  al- 
ready done  under  the  Restoration,  at  the  seminary  of  the 
Mesdemoiselles  La  Grave,  with  a  grim  severity  which  she 
retained  during  her  whole  life  [Les  Employes,  cc — The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Phellion,  Felix,  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  in 
1817 ;  a  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  royal  college,  Paris; 
then  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences ;  a  chevalier  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  following  his  remarkable  work  in  the 
discovery  of  a  star ;  he  was  illustrious  before  he  attained  the 
age  of  twenty-five.  After  he  became  famous  he  married  the 
sister,  Celeste-Louise-Caroline-Brigitte  Colleville,  of  one  of 
his  pupils,  whom  he  loved  and  for  whose  sake  he  voluntarily 
became  a  good  Catholic  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Phellion,    Madame   Felix,  wife   of   the   preceding,  nee 

CfeLESTE-LoUISE-CAROLINE-BRIGITTE    COLLEVILLE.       Although 

she  was  M.  and  Mme.  Colleville's  daughter,  she  was  almost 
altogether  raised  by  the  Thuillier  family.  Jerome  Thuillier 
had  been  one  of  Mme.  Flavie  Colleville's  lovers,  and  he 
passed  for  being  Celeste's  father.  M.,  Mme,,  and  Mile. 
Thuillier  each  gave  one  of  their  names  at  her  christening,  and 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  413 

also  promised  a  magnificent  dowry.  For  this  reason  Olivier 
Vinet,  Godeschal,  and  Thdodose  de  la  Peyrade  sought  Mile. 
Colleville's  hand  in  marriage.  Now,  although  she  was  very 
religious,  she  yet  loved  the  Voltairian  Felix  Phellion  and 
married  him  forthwith  when  he  returned  to  Catholicism  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Phellion,  Marie-Theodore,  the  brother-in-law  and 
younger  brother  of  the  preceding  ones ;  in  1840  he  was  a  scholar 
in  the  Bridges  and  Roads  school  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\, 

Philippart,  Messrs.,  were,  at  Limoges,  manufacturers  of 
porcelain,  and  employed  Jean-Frangois  Tascheron,  the  assassin 
of  Pingret  and  Jeanne  Malassis  [The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Philippe  served  in  Marie  Gaston's  family;  was  once  at- 
tached to  the  service  of  Princesse  de  Vauremont ;  he  later  be- 
came a  domestic  in  Henri  de  Chaulieu's  service ;  he  finally 
entered  Marie  Gaston's  household,  and  looked  after  him  dur- 
ing his  widowerhood  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v — The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  Djy\. 

Pichard,  Mademoiselle  Niseron*s  servant-mistress ;  Niseron 
was  the  cure  of  Blangy  before  1789;  she  introduced  into  his 
household  her  niece.  Mile.  Arsene  Pichard  [The  Peasantry,  jK]. 

Pichard,  Arsene,  niece  of  the  foregoing.  See  Rigou, 
Madame  Gregoire. 

Picot,  Nepomucene,  an  astronomer  and  mathematician ;  a 
friend  of  Biot's  since  1807;  the  author  of  a  treatise  :  *'  Logar- 
ithmes  differentiels,"  also  of  the  *' Postulatum  d'Euclide," 
and,  above  all,  of  the  '^Theorie  du  mouvement  perpetuel," 
4  volumes  in  4°,  with  plates,  Paris,  1825.  He  lived  in  1840 
at  No.  9  Rue  du  Val-de-Grace.  With  an  excessive  myopia, 
he  was  very  eccentric  in  his  character  and  manners  ;  robbed 
by  his  servant,  Mme.  Lambert,  he  merited  being  interdicted* 
by  his  family.  He  was  Felix  Phellion 's  old  professor,  and 
visited  England  with  him.  At  the  Thuilliers',  Place  de  la 
Madeleine,  before  the  Collevilles,  Minards,  and  Phellions, 
*  Examined  by  a  commission  in  lunacy. 


414  COMPENDIUM 

who  were  there  together,  Picot  revealed  the  fame  of  his  pupil, 
who  had  hidden  it  under  a  generous  modesty ;  this  decided 
the  establishment  of  Celeste  Colleville.  Tardily  decorated, 
Picot  married,  not  so  tardily,  an  eccentric  Englishwoman,  an 
opulent  quadragenarian.  She  had  him  operated  on  in  Eng- 
land for  cataract ',  it  was  successful ;  he  returned  to  Paris. 
Out  of  gratitude  he  left  a  considerable  fortune,  which  had 
come  to  him  through  his  wife,  to  Felix  Phellion  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee]. 

Picquoiseau,  Comtesse,  the  widow  of  a  colonel;  with 
Mme.  de  Vaumerland,  she  was  a  boarder  at  Mme.  Vauquer's 
[Father  Goriot,  G\ 

Pius  VII.,  Barnabe  Chiaramonti,  Pope,  1740  to  1823. 
In  1806  he  was  consulted  by  letter  on  the  question  :  "  To  learn 
if  a  woman  could,  without  compromising  her  salvation,  go  to 
a  ball  or  entertainment  in  a  low-necked  dress,"  made  by  his 
correspondent,  Mme.  Angelique  de  Granville.  He  replied  in 
a  dignified  and  tender  manner  worthy  of  Fenelon  [A  Second 
Home,  ^]o 

Piedefer,  Abraham,  a  descendant  of  a  Calvinist  middle- 
class  family  of  Sancerre,  whose  ancestors  in  the  sixteenth 
century  were  artisans,  then  became  mercers ;  he  made  a  mess 
of  his  affairs  during  Louis  XVI. 's  reign  ;  he  died  about  1786, 
all  he  left  being  two  sons,  MoVse  and  Silas  [Muse  of  the  De- 
partment, CO]. 

Piedefer,  Moise,  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing ;  he  profited 
in  the  Revolution  by  imitating  his  grandparents;  he  tore  down 
abbeys  and  churches ;  he  married  the  only  daughter  of  a  guil- 
lotined Conventionalist,  by  whom  he  had  a  child,  Dinah, 
afterward  Mme.  Milaud  de  la  Baudraye ;  he  compromised  his 
fortune  by  agricultural  speculation;  he  died  in  1819  [Muse  of 
the  Department,  CC\ 

Piedefer,  Silas,  brother  and  youngest  son  of  the  two  fore- 
going ones ;  owing  to  MoVse  Piedefer  he  received  no  part  of 
the  modest  paternal  succession  \  he  went  to  the  Indies ;  died 


COMJ^DIE  HUMAINE.  416 

in  New  York  about  1837,  worth  about  twelve  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  his  heiress  being  Mme.  Milaud  de  la  Baudraye, 
his  niece,  who  turned  it  over  to  her  husband  [Muse  of  the 
Department,  CC\ 

Piedefer,  Madame  Moise,  the  sister-in-law  and  wife  of  the 
foregoing;  a  lean  woman,  outwardly  religious;  lived  with  her 
son-in-law ;  her  home  was  successively  at  Sancerre  and  Paris 
with  her  daughter,  Mme.  Milaud  de  la  Baudraye,  whom  she 
succeeded  in  separating  from  Etienne  Lousteau  [Muse  of  the 
Department,  OO]. 

Pierquin,  born  about  1786;  the  successor  of  his  father  as 
a  notary  at  Douai ;  by  the  Pierquins,  of  Antwerp,  he  was  a 
distant  cousin  of  the  Molina- Claes,  Rue  de  Paris;  of  an  in- 
teresting though  positive  nature  ;  he  sought  their  oldest  daugh- 
ter, Marguerite  Claes,  in  marriage,  but  she  became  Mme. 
Emmanuel  de  Solis;  he  ended  by  marrying  the  younger 
daughter,  Felicie,  in  the  second  year  of  Charles  X.'s  reign 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  2>]. 

Pierquin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Felicie 
Claes  ;  when  a  young  girl  she  found  a  second  mother  in  her 
elder  sister,  Marguerite  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  J>]. 

Pierquin,  brother-in-law  and  brother  of  the  foregoing;  a 
physician  at  Douai ;  was  friendly  with  the  Claes  [The  Quest 
of  the  Absolute,  J>]. 

Pierrot,  the  name  given  to  Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph 
Rifoel,  Chevalier  du  Vissard  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Pierrotin,  born  in  1781.  After  serving  in  the  cavalry,  he 
left  the  army  in  181 5  to  become  his  father's  successor  in  the 
line  of  carriages  running  between  Paris  and  1' Isle-Adam,  and 
who,  commencing  in  a  modest  way,  finished  by  becoming 
very  prosperous.  One  morning  in  the  autumn  of  1822,  he 
**  took  "  from  the  Golden  Lion*  a  number  of  personages  met 
with  in  the  Corned ie:    Comte  Hugret  de  Serizy,  L^on  de 

*  At  51  Rue  du  Faubourg  Saint-Denis  (now  No.  47)  and  2  Rue 
d'Enghien,  where  the  entrance  to  the  Messagerie  is  situated. 


416  COMPENDIUM 

Lora,  and  Joseph  Bridau,  whom  he  conveyed  to  Presles,  an 
estate  in  the  vicinity  of  Beaumont.  Pierrotin  became  **the 
owner  of  the  Messageries  of  the  Oise  "  ;  he  married,  in  1838, 
his  daughter  Georgette  to  Oscar  Husson,  a  superior  officer  in 
retirement,  the  tax  collector  at  Beaumont,  and,  like  Canalis  and 
Moreau,  one  of  '*  his  early  travelers  "  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Pietro,  a  Corsican ;  one  of  the  Bartholomeo  di  Piombos' 
servants,  Mme.  Luigi  Porta's  parents  [The  Vendetta,  -i]. 

Pigeau,  under  the  Restoration,  successively  a  master-car- 
rier and  owner,  at  Nanterre,  between  Paris  and  Saint-Germain, 
Laye,  of  a  house  which  he  built  for  himself  in  a  very  economi- 
cal manner  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^]. 

Pigeau,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  she  belonged  to 
a  family  of  wine  dealers.  After  the  death  of  her  husband, 
about  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  she  made  everything  of  the 
legacy  that  she  unhappily  received  ;  by  her  distrustful  avarice 
she  lost  her  life,  for  she  left  Nanterre  for  Saint-Germain, 
where  she  and  her  servant  and  dogs  were  all  assassinated  by 
Theodore  Calvi,  in  the  winter  of  1828-29  [Vautrin's  Last 
Avatar,  ;$;]. 

Pigeron,  of  Auxerre ;  he  died,  it  was  said,  by  the  hand  of 
his  wife ;  the  autopsy  of  his  body,  which  had  been  confided 
to  Vermut,  the  pharmacist  at  Soulanges,  proved  traces  of 
poison  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Pigoult  was  head  clerk  in  the  office  in  which  Malin  de 
Gondreville  and  Grevin  studied  law;  then,  about  1806,  he 
became  successively  justice  of  the  peace  at  Arcis  and  presi- 
dent of  the  court  in  that  town,  at  the  time  when  the  trial 
came  on  in  reference  to  the  abduction  of  Malin,  when,  under 
Grevin's  instructions,  he  pushed  the  affair  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery, ff\  Living  in  the  arrondissement,  about  1839,  he  pub- 
licly recognized  Pantaleon,  Marquis  de  Sallenauve,  and  aided 
his  interests  and  ambitions  in  the  election  of  a  deputy  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  JDX>]. 

Pigoult,  the  son  of  the  foregoing,  acquired  the  good-will 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  417 

and  business  of  Phileas  Beauvisage's  stocking  making  business ; 
he  made  a  mess  of  his  affairs  and  killed  himself,  though  his 
death  was  made  to  appear  as  being  a  natural  and  sudden  one 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DI>\ 

Pigoult,  AcHiLLE,  son  and  grandson  of  the  foregoing; 
born  in  1801.  Was  little  to  look  at,  but  of  great  intelligence; 
he  succeeded  Maitre  Grevin  ;  in  1819  he  was  the  busiest  no- 
tary in  Arcis.  The  favor  of  Gondreville  and  the  friendship 
of  Beauvisage  and  Giguet  for  him  were  great  factors  in  the 
electoral  struggle ;  he  combated  Simon  Giguet's  candidature 
and  gave  his  aid  to  Comte  de  Sallenauve,  who  was  successful. 
The  introduction  of  Marquis  Pantaleon  de  Sallenauve  to  old 
Pigoult,  and  his  recognition  of  him,  assured  the  assistance 
of  Achille  Pigoult  and  the  triumph  of  the  sculptor  Sallenauve- 
Dorlange  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>X>]. 

Pillerault,  Claude- Joseph,  a  very  upright  Parisian  mer- 
chant; the  proprietor  of  the  "Cloche  d'Or,"  a  hardware' 
store,  Quai  de  la  Ferraille ;  *  he  made  a  modest  fortune,  and 
retired  from  business  in  181 4.  After  having  in  succession  lost 
his  wife,  his  son,  and  an  adopted  child,  Pillerault  devoted  his 
life  to  his  niece,  Constance-Barbe- Josephine,  of  whom  he  was 
the  guardian  and  only  relative.  In  1818  Pillerault  lived  on 
the  Rue  des  Bourdonnais ;  he  occupied  a  little  suite  of  rooms 
which  he  rented  from  Camusot,  of  the  *'Cocon  d'Or." 
During  this  time  Pillerault  showed  considerable  intelligence, 
energy,  and  deep  feeling  on  behalf  of  Birotteau's  affairs,  which 
had  turned  out  unluckily  and  had  compromised  him.  He 
divined  Claparon's  character  and  terrified  Molineux,  who 
were  Birotteau's  enemies.  In  politics  he  was  a  stoical  and 
candid  Republican,  so  that  at  the  Cafe  David,  situated  be- 
tween the  Rues  de  la  Monnaie  and  Saint-Honore,  he  was 
looked  upon  as  an  oracle ;  he  paid  the  utmost  respect  to  his 
housekeeper,  Mme.  Vaillant,  and  spoke  of  Manuel,  Foy, 
Perier,  Lafayette,  and  Courier  as  though  they  were  gods 
*  Now  the  Quai  de  la  M6gisserie. 
27 


418  COMPENDIUM 

[Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  Pillerault  lived  to  a  great  age.  The 
Anselme-Popinots,  his  great-nephews,  surrounded  him  in  1844. 
Poulain  cured  the  octogenarian  of  an  illness ;  he  then  owned  a 
house,  Rue  de  Normandie,  Marais,  which  was  under  the  Cibots' 
care,  and  which  had  among  its  tenants  the  Chapoulot  family, 
Schmucke,  and  Sylvain  Pons  [Cousin  Pons,  i;c]. 

Pillerault,  Constance-Barbe- Josephine.  See  Birotteau, 
Madame  Cesar. 

Pimentel,  Marquis  and  Marquise  de;  they  enjoyed  a 
great  influence,  during  the  Restoration,  not  only  in  Parisian 
society,  but  throughout  the  department  of  the  Charente, 
where  they  resided  during  the  summer.  They  passed  for 
being  the  richest  land-owners  in  the  neighborhood  of  Angou- 
Idme;  they  frequented  their  "peers,'*  and  these,  with  them- 
selves, composed  the  flower  of  the  Bargeton  society  [Lost 
Illusions,  _^]. 

Pille-Miche.     See  Cibot. 

Pinaud,  Jacques,  *'a  poor  linen  merchant,'*  under  which 
appellation  M.  d'Orgemont,  a  rich  land-owner  of  Fougeres, 
tried  to  deceive  the  Chouans,  in  order  to  avoid  being  pillaged 
by  them,  in  1799  [The  Chouans,  ^]. 

Pingret,  the  uncle  of  M.  and  Mme.  des  Vanneaulx;  Jeanne 
Malassis'  master ;  a  miser  who  lived  in  an  isolated  house  in 
the  faubourg  Saint-Etienne,  near  Limoges.  One  night  in 
March,  1829,  he  was  robbed  and  assassinated  by  Jean-Frangois 
Tascheron  [The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Pinson,  a  Parisian  restaurateur,*  who  was  for  a  long  time 
famous  on  the  Rue  de  I'Ancienne-Comedie ;  at  his  place,  under 
Louis-Philippe,  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  reduced  to  the  last 
stage  of  poverty,  made  an  excellent  dinner,  costing  forty-seven 
francs,  at  Cerizet's  and  Dutocq's  expense,  and  which  resulted 
in  the  forming  of  a  partnership  between  the  three  men  to  ad- 
vance their  interests  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

*  The  Restaurant  Pinson  existed  until  quite  recently.  It  nearly  faced 
the  Caf6  Procope — the  Zoppi  of  Desplein's  youth. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  419 

Piombo,  Baron  Bartholomeo  di,  born  in  1 738 ;  a  com- 
patriot and  friend  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  whose  mother  he 
had  protected  at  the  time  of  the  trouble  in  Corsica,  After  a 
terrible  vendetta  exercised  in  Corsica  against  the  Portas,  of 
whom  only  one  was  saved,  he  left  the  country  miserably  poor 
and  went  with  his  family  to  Paris.  By  the  good  offices  of 
Lucien  Bonaparte  he  saw  the  First  Consul,  October,  1800, 
and  obtained  estates,  titles,  and  places  from  him.  Piombo 
was  never  ungrateful ;  he  was  the  friend  of  Daru,  Drouot,  and 
Carnot;  he  gave  testimony  of  his  devotedness  to  the  last  day 
of  his  benefactor's  reign.  The  return  of  the  Bourbons 
caused  his  retirement.  From  Mme.  Loetitia  Bonaparte  he 
received  an  allowance  which  enabled  him  to  buy  and  occupy 
the  hotel  of  the  Portendueres.  The  marriage  of  his  beloved 
daughter,  Ginevra,  made  her,  against  the  paternal  will,  the 
wife  of  the  last  of  the  Portas ;  it  was  a  source  of  grief  and 
vexation  for  Piombo,  and  he  never  forgave  her  during  her 
life  [The  Vendetta,  i^. 

Piombo,  Baronne  Elisa  di,  born  in  1745,  wife  of  the 
foregoing  and  mother  of  Mme.  Porta ;  she  was  unable  to 
obtain  Bartholomeo' s  forgiveness  for  Ginevra,  whom  her 
father  never  saw  again  after  her  marriage  [The  Vendetta,  %\. 

Piombo,  Ginevra  di.     See  Porta,  Madame  Luigi. 

Piombo,  Gregorio  di,  brother  and  son  of  the  foregoing ; 
he  perished  when  a  child,  the  victim  of  the  Portas,  in  ven- 
detta against  the  Piombos  [The  Vendetta,  i]. 

Piquetard,  Agathe.     See  Hulot  d'Ervy,  Baronne  Hector. 

Piquoizeau,  Frederic  de  Nucingen's  janitor,  when  Ro- 
dolphe  Castanier  held  the  position  of  cashier  in  the  baron's 
banking  house  [Melmoth  Reconciled,  cZ]. 

Plaisir,  ''  the  illustrious  hairdresser  "  of  Paris ;  September, 
1816,  he  arranged  the  hair  of  Caroline  Crochard  de  Belle- 
feuille.  Rue  Taitbout,  then  the  Comte  de  Granville's  mistress 
[A  Second  Home,  z\. 

Plan  at  de  Baudry.     See  Baudry,  Planat  de. 


420  COMPENDIUM 

Planchette,  an  illustrious  professor  of  mechanics,  con- 
sulted by  Raphael  de  Valentin  on  the  matter  of  the  singular 
Wild  Ass'  Skin,  which  the  young  man  owned ;  he  sent  him 
to  Spieghalter,  the  mechanic,  and  also  to  Baron  Japhet,  the 
chemist,  both  of  whom  vainly  attempted  to  stretch  the 
skin.  The  impotency  of  science  in  this  matter  simply  stu- 
pefied Planchette  and  Japhet.  *'They  were  like  Christians 
going  to  their  graves  without  having  found  a  God  in  heaven." 
Planchette  was  a  tall,  thin  man,  a  kind  of  contemplative 
poet  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Plantin,  a  Parisian  publicist,  was  in  1834  the  editor  of  a 
review  and  ambitious  to  become  a  master  of  requests  to  the 
council  of  State,  who  had  been  recommended  to  Raoul 
Nathan  by  Blondet,  when  he  founded  a  great  journal  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Plissoud  was  a  bailiff  and  usher  at  Soulanges  and  unhappy. 
Under  the  Restoration  he  belonged  to  the  '^ second"  society 
in  that  little  town;  he  was  excluded  from  the  '* first"  on 
account  of  his  wife's,  nee  Euphemie  Wattebled,  misconduct. 
A  drinker  and  gambler,  Plissoud  made  no  fortune,  for  if  he 
combined  his  functions,  they  at  once  became  a  retribution  to 
him  ;  he  was  an  insurance  agent  of  a  society  against  the  chances 
of  conscription.  An  adversary  of  the  Soudry  salon,  Plissoud 
readily  served  against  the  interests  of  those  who  opposed 
Montcornet,  the  lord  of  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Plissoud,  Madame  Euphemie,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  the 
daughter  of  Wattebled  ;  she  reigned  in  the  ^'  second  "  society 
at  Soulanges,  as  Mme.  Soudry  did  in  the  ''first"  ;  although 
married  she  lived  in  a  quasi  marital  state  with  Maitre  Lupin 
[The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Poidevin  was  Maitre  Bordin's  second  clerk  in  November, 
1806  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Poincet,  an  old  and  unlucky  public  writer  and  interpreter 
at  the  Palais  de  Justice,  Paris;  about  1815  he  accompanied 
Christemio  to  Henri  de  Marsay's  hotel,  to  translate  the  verbal 


COMiDIE  HUMAINE.  421 

message    sent   by  Paquita  Valdes   [The   Girl   with    Golden 
Eyes,  ds,  II.]- 

Poirel,  Abbe,  a  priest  at  Tours ;  promoted  a  canon  at  the 
time  when  Monseigneur  Troubert,  together  with  Mile.  Gamard, 
persecuted  Abbe  Francois  Birotteau  [The  Abbe  Birotteau,  i]. 

Poiret,  the  eldest,  born  at  Troyes.  He  was  the  son  of  an 
assistant  farmer  and  of  a  woman  whose  misconduct  was  notor- 
ious, and  who  died  in  a  hospital.  He  went  to  Paris  with  a 
younger  brother,  and,  like  him,  became  one  of  the  employes 
working  under  Robert  Lindet's  administration,  where  he  knew 
the  messenger  of  the  bureau,  Antoine ;  he  left  the  Bureau  of 
Finance  in  1814  and  was  replaced  by  Saillard  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc\.  He  was  cretinish  and  remained  a  bachelor  by 
reason  of  the  "horror  with  which  the  dissipated  life  of  his 
mother  inspired  in  him  ;  a  *'dittoist  "  who  was  afflicted  with 
the  trick  of  repeating,  with  some  little  variations,  the  words 
of  his  questioners.  Poiret  boarded  at  the  middle-class  board- 
ing-house of  Mme.  Vauquer,  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve; 
he  occupied  the  second  story  in  the  widow's  house ;  he  gave 
his  company  to  Christine-Michelle  Michonneau,  and  married 
her  when  Horace  Bianchon  procured  the  dismissal  of  that 
woman,  who  bad  denounced  Jacques  Collin,  1819  [Father 
Goriot,  6r].  Poiret  afterward  met  M.  Clapart  on  the  Rue  de 
la  Cerisaie ;  he  lived  at  that  time  on  the  Rue  des  Poules  and 
had  lost  his  health  [A  Start  in  Life,  s— The  Harlot's  Pro- 
gress, T^  Z].  He  died  under  Louis-Philippe  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\ 

Poiret,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  nee  Christine- 
Michelle  Michonneau  in  1779;  without  doubt  she  passed  a 
restless  youth.  She  pretended  to  have  been  persecuted  by  the 
heirs  of  a  rich  old  man  whom  she  had  cared  for ;  she  became 
a  boarder  at  Mme.  Vauquer' s,  where  she  occupied  the  third 
floor  of  her  house  on  the  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve ;  she 
made  Poiret  her  cavalier;  she  bargained  with  Bibi-Lupin 
(Gondureau)  to  deliver  up  to  him  Jacques  Collin,  who  was 


422  COMPENDIUM 

also  a  guest  of  Mme.  Vaiiquer's.  After  having  satisfied  her 
avariciousness  and  rancor  she  was  compelled  to  leave  the  Rue 
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  principally  through  a  formal  demand 
made  by  Bianchon,  one  of  the  guests  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 
Accompanied  by  Poiret,  whom  she  afterward  married,  she 
transported  herself  to  the  Rue  des  Poules,  where  she  rented 
out  furnished  rooms.  Called  before  Camusot,  the  judge  of 
instruction,  she  recognized  Jacques  Collin  in  the  pseudo-abb6 
Carlos  Herrera  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T^  Z\.  Ten  years 
later,  then  a  widow,  Mme.  Poiret  was  still  living  at  the  corner 
of  the  Rues  des  Postes  and  Poules,  and  counted  Cerizet 
among  her  tenants  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Poiret,  the  younger  or  junior,  the  brother-in-law  and 
brother  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  1771  ;  he  had  the  begin- 
ning, the  instincts,  and  poor  spirit  of  his  eldest  brother,  and 
followed  the  same  career,  working  under  Lindet.  He  re- 
mained a  compiling  clerk  in  the  Treasury  ten  years  longer 
than  the  elder  Poiret ;  he  also  kept  the  books  of  two  dealers, 
one  of  whom  was  Camusot  of  the  "  Cocon  d'Or"  ;  he  lived 
on  the  Rue  du  Martroi;  he  dined  regularly  at  the  *' Veau  qui 
tgte,"  *  Place  du  Chdtelet.  Tournan,  of  the  Rue  Saint-Martin, 
furnished  him  with  his  hats ;  he  once  took  one  to  him  to  be 
examined,  owing  to  a  practical  joke  that  had  been  played  on 
him  by  J.  J.  Bixiou ;  he  ended  as  an  employe  in  the  Bureau 
of  Finance  under  Xavier  Rabourdin.  He  retired  January  i, 
1825  ;  Poiret  junior  is  counted  among  those  who  retired  to 
Mme.  Vauquer's  house  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Polissard,  the  adjudicator  of  the  woods  of  Ronquerolles, 
in  1821 ;  he  probably  employed  at  that  time,  on  Gaubertin's 
recommendation,  Vaudoyer,  a  peasant  of  Ronquerolles,  as 
gamekeeper  at  Blangy,  who  was  little  short  of  being  destitute 
[The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

PoUet,  a  bookseller-publisher  together  with  Doguereau; 

he  published  '*  Leonide  ou  La  Vielle  de  Surennes,"  a  romance 

*  This  establishment  has  been  defunct  for  more  than  thirty-five  years.    ; 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  423 

by  Victor  Ducange.  He  had  business  relations  with  Porchon 
and  Vidal ;  he  is  found  there  when  Lucien  de  Rubempre  pre- 
sented himself  to  them  with  his  "Archer  of  Charles  IX."  [A 
Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  31\ 

Pombreton,  Marquis  de,  a  problematical  character;  a 
lieutenant  of  musketeers  under  the  old  regime ;  a  friend  of 
Chevalier  Valois,  who  boasted  of  having  loaned  him  twelve 
hundred  pistoles,  in  order  that  he  might  have  the  means  to 
emigrate.  Pombreton  undoubtedly  returned  this  money  later, 
though  the  fact  remains  uncertain ;  for  M.  de  Valois,  a  very 
lucky  player,  would  have  had  interest  in  noising  around  this 
restitution,  had  it  really  taken  place,  to  hide  the  resources 
which  he  made  out  of  his  petty  gambling  play ;  so  five  years 
later,  about  1821,  Etienne  Lousteau  declared  that  the  Pom- 
breton succession  was  the  same  as  the  Maubreuil*  affair,  one 
of  the  "stereotyped  phrases"  of  journalism.  Lastly,  "le 
Courrier  de  I'Orne,"  M.  du  Bousquier's  publication,  about 
1830,  had  these  lines:  "I  will  give  an  income  of  one  thou- 
sand francs  to  the  person  who  can  prove  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  a  M.  de  Pombreton  before,  during,  or  after  the 
emigration  "  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  M. — Lost 
Illusions,  JV— The  Old  Maid,  aa\ 

Pomponne,  La.     See  Toupinet,  Mme. 

Pons,  SYLVAiN,t  born  about  1785  ;  a  son  who  tardily  came 
to  M.  and  Mme.  Pons,  who  founded,  before  1789,  the  famous 
uniform  embroidering  house,  bought  of  them  in  1815  by 
M.  Rivet ;  he  was  cousin-german  to  Mme.  Camusot  of  the 
**  Cocon  d'Or  "  ;  the  sole  heir  of  the  noted  Pons  Brothers, 
embroiderers  to  the  Court ;  he  took  the  prize  of  Rome,  under 
the  Empire,  for  a  musical  composition  ;  returned  to  Paris  in 
1 810  and  was  noted  for  some  years  for  his  romances  and 
melodies,  which  were  rich  and   full  of  grace.      During  his 

*  Maubreuil  died  at  the  end  of  the  Second  Empire, 
f  M.  Alphonse  de  Launay  drew  the  life  of  Sylvain  Pons  in  a  drama 
which  was  presented  at  the  Cluny  theatre,  Paris,  about  1873. 


424  COMPENDIUM 

sojourn  in  Italy  Pons  acquired  a  taste  for  objects  of  art  and 
virtu.  His  passion  as  a  collector  absorbed  his  patrimony: 
Pons  became  the  rival  of  Sauvageot.  Monistrol  and  Elie 
Magus  appreciated  and  secretly  envied  the  artistic  wealth  and 
economically  gathered  collection  of  the  musician.  Pons, 
himself  ignorant  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  his  museum,  kept  it 
hidden,  and  cared  for  it  himself.  This  was  his  ruin,  for  his 
love  for  pictures,  stones,  and  marbles,  and  other  bric-a-brac 
was  greater  than  for  his  lyrical  fame ;  his  ugliness,  also,  added 
to  a  seeming  poverty,  prevented  his  getting  married.  The 
satisfactions  of  a  gourmand  replaced  those  of  love ;  in 
Schmucke's  friendship  he  also  found  consolation  for  his  iso- 
lation. Pons  cultivated  his  taste  for  good  cheer ;  he  became 
an  old  parasite  on  his  family  circle,  just  tolerated  by  his  dis- 
tant cousins  and  connections,  the  Camusots  de  Marville  and 
their  relatives,  Cardot,  Berthier,  and  Popinot.  Having  met 
Schmucke,  in  1834,  at  the  distribution  of  prizes  in  a  young 
ladies'  boarding  school,  the  pianist  Schmucke,  a  professor  like 
himself,  took  a  strong  liking  for  him,  and  they  joined  together 
in  their  living  expenses  and  lodgings.  Sylvain  Pons  was 
the  leader  of  the  orchestra  of  which  Felix  Gaudissart  was 
the  manager  under  the  Monarchy  of  July.  He  admitted 
Schmucke  as  a  member  of  it,  after  he  had  taken  up  his  abode 
with  Pons  in  the  Rue  de  Normandie,  in  a  house  owned  by  C.  J. 
Pillerault,  and  where  they  lived  happily  together  for  a  number 
of  years.  Madeleine  Vivet's  rancor  and  that  of  Amelie 
Camusot  de  Marville,  so  also  the  covetousness  of  Mme.  Cibot, 
Fraisier,  Magus,  Poulain,  and  Remonencq,  aggravated  a  liver 
complaint  which  Pons  had  and  caused  his  death  in  April, 
1845  5  ^^  ^^^  instituted  Schmucke  his  universal  legatee  before 
Maitre  Leopold  Hannequin,  who  had  been  sent  by  HeloYse 
Brisetout.  Pons  had  been  instructed  to  compose  the  music 
for  a  ballet  entitled,  '*  les  Mohicans  "  :  this  work  was  doubt- 
less performed  by  his  successor,  Garangeot  [Cousin  Pons,  Q0\. 
Popinot,   an   alderman   at    Sancerre,   in   the    eighteenth 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  425 

century;  the  father  of  Jean- Jules  Popinot  and  Mme.  Ragon, 
nee  Popinot.  A  magistrate  whose  portrait,  painted  by  Latour, 
decorated  the  salon  of  Mme.  Ragon,  living  in  the  Saint- 
Sulpice  quarter,  Paris,  under  the  Restoration  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  O]. 

Popinot,  Jean- Jules,  son  of  the  foregoing,  brother  of 
Mme.  Ragon,  the  husband  of  Mile.  Bianchon,  Sancerre ;  he 
embraced  a  career  in  the  magistracy,  but  he  did  not  quickly 
attain  the  highest  rung  on  the  ladder  of  advancement  by 
his  insight  and  integrity.  Jean-Jules  Popinot  lived  a  long  time 
in  Paris  as  a  simple  judge.  He  was  much  interested  in  a 
kind  of  young  orphan,  Anselme  Popinot,  his  nephew,  who 
was  a  clerk  to  Cesar  Birotteau  ;  he  was  invited  with  his  wife 
to  the  famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer,  December  17, 
1818.  About  eighteen  months  later,  Jean-Jules  Popinot 
visited  Anselme,  who  was  established  as  a  druggist  on  the 
Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants,  and  there  met  the  drummer  Felix 
Gaudissart,  whom  he  had  saved  from  the  consequence  of  some 
injudicious  words  he  had  spoken  before  the  police-spy  Can- 
quoelle-Peyrade  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]-  Three  years  afterward 
he  lost  his  wife,  who  had  brought  him  a  portion  of  six  thou- 
sand francs  per  annum,  just  double  his  own  personalty. 
Thenceforth  he  was  domiciled  on  the  Rue  de  Fouarre;  Popinot 
had  a  liberal  heart,  and  had  a  virtue  which  became  a  passion 
— charity.  On  the  request  of  Octave  de  Bauvan,  Jean- Jules 
Popinot  was  able  to  succor  the  count's  wife,  Honorine,  by 
employing  for  him  an  intermediary  in  the  person  of  Felix 
Gaudissart,  who  paid  very  generously  for  the  artificial  flowers 
made  by  her  [Honorine,  A;].  Popinot  finished  by  founding 
a  sort  of  ministry  of  benevolence.  Lavienne,  his  servant, 
and  Horace  Bianchon,  his  nephew  by  his  wife's  side,  seconded 
him.  He  ably  assisted  Mme.  Toupinet,  a  poor  woman  of  the 
Rue  du  Petit-Banquier,  1828.  The  petition  of  Mme.  d'Es- 
pard  for  an  interdiction  to  be  placed  upon  her  husband  dis- 
tracted Popinot  in  his  character  of  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul :  a 


426  COMPENDIUM 

man  of  rare  discernment,  he  speedily  discovered  the  injustice 
the  marquise  intended,  and  recognized  the  real  victim  in 
M.  d'Espard,  when  he  questioned  him  at  22  Rue  de  la  Mon- 
tagne-Sainte-Genevieve,  in  an  apartment  that  was  in  striking 
contrast  in  its  simplicity  to  the  gorgeous  splendor  he  had 
found  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Honore,  in  the  marquise's  resi- 
dence. Under  Mme.  d'Espard's  intrigues,  Popinot  was  re- 
moved from  the  commission  in  lunacy  and  Camusot  was 
substituted  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c\.  Of  the  last 
days  of  Popinot  the  information  is  much  varied.  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie's  society  wept  over  the  death  of  the  judge  in  1833 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\  and  Phellion  in  1840. 
J.  J.  Popinot  probably  deceased  at  22  Rue  de  la  Montagne- 
Saint-Genevieve,  in  the  dwelling  he  occupied  when  a  councilor 
to  the  Court,  a  municipal  councilor  of  Paris,  and  councilor- 
general  of  the  Seine  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Popinot,  Anselme,  a  poor  orphan,  nephew  of  the  fore- 
going and  Mme.  Ragon  {nee  Popinot),  who  cared  for  him  in 
his  childhood.  Little,  red-haired,  and  lame,  he  became  a 
clerk  in  Cesar  Birotteau's  Parisian  perfumery  store,  the 
"Queen  of  Roses,"  Ragon's  successor,  in  order  to  show  his 
gratitude  for  the  benefits  a  part  of  his  family  had  done  him, 
who  were  almost  ruined  by  their  unfortunate  investments  in 
the  Wortschin  mines,  1818-1819.  Anselme  Popinot  secretly 
loved  Cesarine  Birotteau,  the  daughter  of  his  employer,  which 
she  fully  reciprocated ;  partly  through  his  help  Cesar  was  re- 
habilitated, thanks  to  the  success  of  his  drug  business  on  the 
Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants,*  about  1819-20.  The  origin  of  his 
great  fortune  and  his  domestic  happiness  date  from  this  time 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  0\  After  Birotteau's  death,  1822,  Popinot 
married  Mile.  Birotteau,  who  gave  him  three  children,  two 
sons  and  a  daughter.     The  consequences  of  the  Revolution  of 

*  United  to  the  Rue  Quincampoix  since  1851 ;  it  was  situated  between 
the  Rues  Lombards  and  Aubry-le-Boucher.  One  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants 
really  existed  in  the  twelfth  arrondissement. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  427 

1830  added  to  Anselme  Popinot's  honors;  he  was  twice  elected 
a  deputy  at  the  beginning  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  and, 
more,  a  minister  of  commerce  [Gaudissart  the  Great,  o]. 
Anselme  Popinot  was  secretary  of  State,  and  made  count  and 
a  peer  of  France.  He  owned  a  mansion  on  the  Rue  Basse-du- 
Rempart.*  In  1834  he  rewarded  Gaudissart  for  the  services 
he  rendered  him  on  the  Cinq-Diamants,  by  giving  him  the 
management  of  a  theatre  on  the  boulevards,  where  operas, 
dramas,  burlesques,  and  ballets  were  alternately  given  [Cousin 
Pons,  0?].  Four  years  later  Comte  Popinot  was  the  new 
minister  of  agriculture  and  commerce ;  he  was  an  amateur  in 
the  arts,  and  voluntarily  played  the  part  of  a  delicate  Mecene, 
by  buying  for  two  thousand  francs  an  example  of  Steinbock's : 
"Groupe  de  Samson,"  bargaining  for  the  destruction  of  the 
mould  in  order  that  two  "Samsons"  might  not  result,  and 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  Hortense  Hulot  d'Ervy,  the  artist's 
fiancee.  When  Wenceslas  married  Mile.  Hulot  d'Ervy,  Popi- 
not was,  with  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  the  Pole's  witness 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Popinot,  Madame  Anselme,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee 
Cesarine  Birotteau  in  1801.  Good  and  beautiful,  once 
nearly  promised  to  Alexandre  Crottat,  she  married,  about 
1822,  Anselme  Popinot,  whom  she  loved  and  who  loved  her 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  Once  married  she  was,  in  the  midst 
of  grandeur,  the  same  simple,  modest,  honest,  innocent  per- 
son that  she  had  been  in  her  early  youth.f  The  transforma- 
tion of  the  old  dancer  of  the  Acad^mie  Royal,  TuUia,  into 
Mme.  Claudine  du  Bruel  surprised  Mme.  Anselme,  who  was  a 
frequenter  of  that  theatre  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF\  Com- 
tesse    Popinot  delicately  assisted   Adeline   Hulot   d'Ervy   in 

*  This  road  has  been  all  turned  upside  down ;  it  has  been  changed  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of,  a  century. 

t  In  1838  the  little  theatre  of  the  Pantheon,  demolished  in  1846,  gave 
a  melodrama  by  M.  Eugene  Cormon,  entitled  "  Cesar  Birotteau,"  in  which 
Mme.  Anselme  Popinot  was  one  of  the  heroines. 


428  COMPENDIUM 

1 841.  Her  interposition  and  that  of  Mesdames  de  Rastignac, 
de  Navarreins,  d'Espard,  de  Grandlieu,  de  Carigliano,  de 
Lenoncourt,  and  de  la  Bastie  was  able  to  get  her  appointed  as 
an  inspectress  of  benevolence  [Cousin  Betty,  w\  Three 
years  later,  when  one  of  her  three  children  married  Mile. 
Camusot  de  Marville,  she  imitated  the  modest  Anselme,  con- 
traiwise  to  Amelie  Camusot,  and  welcomed  Pons,  who  was 
C.  J.  Pillerault's — her  maternal  great-uncle — tenant  [Cousin 
Pons,  q6\. 

Popinot,  VicOMTE,  the  eldest  of  the  three  children  of  the 
foregoing,  who  married,  in  1845,  Cecile  Camusot  de  Marville 
[Cousin  Pons,  a?].  During  1846  he  questioned  Victorin  Hu- 
lot  on  the  second  and  peculiar  marriage  of  Baron  Hector 
Hulot  d'Ervy,  which  was  celebrated  February  ist,  of  that 
same  year  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Popinot,  VicoMTESSE,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  nke  Cecile 
Camusot,  1821,  having  the  name  of  Marville  added  to  that 
of  Camusot  by  reason  of  the  family  having  acquired  an 
estate  in  Normandy.  Red-haired,  pretentious,  and  insignifi- 
cant, she  persecuted  her  distant  cousin,  Pons,  whose  fortune 
she  afterward  inherited  \  she  was  once  disdained  by  the 
wealthy  Frederic  Brunner,  who  would  not  marry  her  because 
she  was  an  only  daughter  and  therefore  a  spoiled  child  [Cousin 
Pons,  x\. 

Popinot-Chandier,  Madame  and  Mademoiselle,  mother 
and  daughter;  of  Sancerre;  they  frequented  Mme.  de  la 
Baudraye's  salons,  at  whom  they  railled  with  a  middle-class 
superiority  [Muse  of  the  Department,  OC\ 

Popole,  godchild  of  Angelique  Madou,  who  had  business 
transactions  with  Cesar  Birotteau,  the  perfumer  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  O]. 

Porchon.     See  Vidal. 

Porraberil,  Euphemie.     See  San-Real,  Marquise  de. 

Porriquet,  an  old  professor  of  the  classics ;  was  Raphael 
de  Valentin's  tutor  for  sixteen  years,  three  of  these  being 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  429 

passed  in  rehetoric.  Removed  from  the  University  without 
pension,  after  the  Revolution  of  July,  as  being  infected  with 
Carlism,  a  poor  septuagenarian ;  he  had  a  nephew  who  paid 
for  his  board  at  Saint-Sulpice  seminary;  he  went  to  his  dear 
**  campus  "  to  try  and  obtain  a  position  as  principal  of  a  col- 
lege in  the  provinces,  but  was  grossly  treated  by  the  cams 
alumnus^  whose  every  act  seemed  to  shorten  his  life  [The  Wild 
Ass'  Skin,  A\ 

Porta,  LuiGi,  born  in  1793,  a  striking  portrait  of  a  sister 
whose  name  was  Nina.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  he  was  the  last  living  member  of  the  Corsican  family 
of  Porta;  he  was  saved  by  Elisa  Vanni,  according  to 
Giacomo;*  he  lived  in  Genoa,  where  he  enlisted  in  the 
army  and  took  part,  while  yet  very  young,  in  the  Beresina. 
Under  the  Restoration  he  had  already  become  a  commissioned 
officer ;  this  interrupted  his  military  career  and  he  was  tracked 
at  the  same  time  as  Lab6doy^re.  Luigi  Porta  found  an  asylum 
in  Paris :  the  Bonapartist  painter,  Servin,  who  had  opened  a 
study  for  painters,  in  which  he  taught  young  ladies  the  use 
of  the  pencil,  concealed  Major  Porta.  One  of  his  pupils, 
Ginevra  di  Piombo,  discovered  the  hiding-place  of  the  exile ; 
she  succored  him,  then  loved,  and  afterward  married  him,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  Bartholomeo  di  Piombo,  her  father. 
Luigi  Porta  took  his  old  comrade,  Louis  Vergniaud,  who  was 
well  known  to  Colonel  Chabert,  as  his  witness  to  the  mar- 
riage ;  his  life  was  a  sad  one,  as  he  supported  himself  by  ill- 
paid  writing;  he  lost  his  wife,  who  was  broken  down  by 
poverty,  and  went  to  the  Piombos  to  acquaint  them  with 
her  death.  He  died  soon  after  his  wife,  in  1820  [The  Ven- 
detta, i\ 

Porta,  Madame  Luigi,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Ginevra 
DI  Piombo,  about  1 790 ;  she  led  in  Corsica,  as  in  Paris,  the 
life  of  a  child  spoiled  by  her  father  and  mother,  whose  adored 

*  The  insufficiency  of  information  prevented  the  reconstitution  of  Gia- 
como's  civil  status. 


430  COMPENDIUM 

child  she  was.  In  the  painter  Servin's  studio,  where  her  talent 
showed  brilliantly  and  far  above  the  remainder  of  the  class, 
she  knew  the  Mesdames  Tiphaine  and  Camusot  de  Marville, 
at  that  time  Miles.  Roguin  and  Thirion.  Defended  only  by 
Laure,  she  submitted  to  the  cruel  persecutions  organized  by 
Am61ie  Thirion,  an  envious  Royalist,  who  before  her  arrival 
had  been  the  favorite  pupil ;  she  found  out  Luigi  Porta's 
hiding-place,  and  later,  against  the  wishes  of  Bartholomeo  di 
Piombo,  married  him.  Mme.  Porta  lived  most  wretchedly; 
she  sold  some  of  her  works,  copies  of  pictures,  to  Magus,  in 
spite  of  his  poor  pay ;  she  brought  a  son,  Barth^lmy,  into  the 
world,  but  was  unable  to  nurse  him  ;  he  perished,  and  she  died 
of  grief  and  exhaustion  during  the  year  1820  [The  Ven- 
detta, il. 

Portail,  Du,  a  name  taken  by  Corentin  when  *' prefect  of 
the  occult  and  diplomatic  police  of  high  policy";  he  lived, 
under  Louis-Philippe,  on  the  Rue  Honore-Chevalier  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee\ 

Portenduere,  Comte  Luc-Savinien  de,  grandson  of 
Admiral  de  Portenduere,  born  about  1788;  he  represented 
the  eldest  branch  of  the  Portendueres,  the  younger  branch 
of  which  was  represented  by  Mme.  de  Portenduere  and  her 
son,  Savinien,  his  cousins.  Under  the  Restoration  he  was  the 
husband  of  a  wealthy  wife,  the  father  of  three  children,  and 
a  deputy  for  I'lsere;  he  lived,  according  to  the  season,  in 
the  place  last  named  and  in  Paris  at  the  castle  or  hotel  de 
Portenduere;  when  Vicomte  Savinien  was  pursued  for  his 
debts  he  did  not  assist  him  [Ursule  Mirouet,  jff  ]. 

Portenduere,  Madame  de,  nU  Kergarouet,  a  lady  of 
Brittany,  proud  of  the  nobility  of  her  race.  She  married  the 
captain  of  a  vessel,  who  was  a  nephew  of  the  famous  Admiral 
de  Portenduere,  "  the  rival  of  Suffren,  Kergarouet,  and  Si- 
meuse "  ;  she  bore  him  a  son,  Savinien;  she  survived  her 
husband ;  she  frequented  the  Rouvres,  her  neighbors  in  the 
country,  where  she  resided  by  reason  of  the  paucity  of  her 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE,  433 

fortune,  under  the  Restoration,  in  the  little  town  of  Nemours, 
on  the  Rue  des  Bourgeois,  on  which  Denis  Minoret  also  re- 
sided. Savinien's  costly  dissipations  and  her  long-maintained 
resistance  to  the  marriage  of  her  son  with  Ursule  Mirouet 
agitated  the  last  hours  of  Mme.  de  Portenduere  [Ursule  Mi- 
rouet, JI\ 

Portenduere,  Vicomte  Savinien  de,  son  of  the  foregoing; 
born  in  1806  ;  a  cousin  of  Comte  de  Portenduere,  a  descendant 
of  the  noted  admiral  of  that  name ;  a  great-nephew  of  Vice- 
Admiral  de  Kergarouet.  He  left  the  little  town  of  Nemours, 
and  his  mother's  company,  during  the  Restoration,  to  go  to 
and  live  the  life  of  Paris,  where,  despite  his  relationship  to  the 
Fontaines,  he  loved,  without  any  reciprocal  feeling  on  her  part, 
Emilie  de  Fontaine,  who  was  successively  the  wife  of  Admiral 
de  Kergarouet  and  the  Marquis  de  Vandenesse  [The  Sceaux 
Ball,  u\.  Savinien  was  also  smitten  by  Leontine  de  Serizy; 
he  was  an  intimate  of  Marsay,  Rastignac,  Rubempre,  Maxime 
de  Trailles,  Blondet,  and  Finot ;  he  soon  lost  a  considerable 
sum,  and,  crippled  with  debts,  became  a  **  boarder  "  at  Sainte- 
P^lagie ;  he  there  received  Marsay,  Rastignac,  and  Rubempre, 
who  were  desirous  of  aiding  him,  and  was  rallied  by  Florine, 
who  was  later  Mme.  Nathan  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  !F]. 
Urged  by  his  ward,  Ursule  Mirouet,  Denis  Minoret,  one  of 
Savinien's  neighbors  at  Nemours,  advanced  the  sum  necessary 
to  liquidate  the  debt  and  release  the  debtor.  The  vicomte 
enlisted  in  the  navy,  retiring  with  the  grade  of  ensign,  and 
the  decoration,  two  years  after  the  Revolution  of  July,  and 
five  years  before  he  married  Ursule  Mirouet  [Ursule  Mi- 
rouet, JS.\  The  Vicomte  and  Vicomtesse  de  Portenduere 
formed  a  charming  pair,  recalling  two  other  happy  Parisian 
couples:  the  Laginskis  and  the  Ernest  de  la  Basties.  In 
1840  they  lived  on  the  Rue  des  Saints-Peres,*  where  they 
became  intimate  with  the  Calyste  du  Guenics,  and  joined 
them  in  their  box  at  the  Italiensf  [Beatrix,  JP]. 
*  Now  much  lengthened.        \  At  that  time  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Od6on. 


432  COMPENDIUM 

Portenduere,  Vicomtesse  Savinien  de,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going, nee  Mirouet,  in  1814.  The  orphan  daughter  of  an 
unfortunate  artist,  a  music  conductor  named  Joseph  Mirouet, 
and  Dinah  Grollman,  a  German  ;  the  natural  grandchild  of  the 
noted  harpist,  Valentin  Mirouet,  and  thus  the  niece  of  the 
rich  physician  Denis  Minoret ;  she  was  received  by  him  when 
she  was  a  young  child,  and  later  became  his  dearly  loved 
ward  ;  she  recalled  to  his  mind,  by  her  features  and  character, 
his  deceased  wife.  The  adolescence  and  youth  of  Ursule 
were  passed  at  Nemours  and  were  marked  alternately  by  joys 
and  sorrows.  The  servants  and  her  guardian's  intimate 
friends  were  all  solicitous  of  her  welfare.  A  distinguished 
musician,  the  future  vicomtesse  received  lessons  in  harmony  from 
the  pianist  Schmucke,  who  was  brought  from  Paris  for  this.  She 
was  religious  and  was  instrumental  in  converting  the  Voltairian 
Denis  Minoret ;  but  the  influence  which  she  possessed  pro- 
voked the  ferocious  enmity  of  the  Minoret-Levraults,  the 
Massins,  Cremieres,  Dionis',  and  Goupils  against  her;  when 
she  was  declared  to  be  the  doctor's  universal  legatee,  they 
despoiled,  calumniated,  and  cruelly  persecuted  her.  Ursule 
was  also  repulsed  by  Mme.  de  Portenduere,  whose  son,  Savi- 
nien, loved  her.  Later  Minoret-Levrault  and  Goupil  repented 
of  their  hatred,  which  had  manifested  itself  in  many  diverse 
ways;  her  marriage  with  Vicomte  de  Portenduere  finally 
received  his  mother's  approval,  and  this  consoled  her  for  the 
loss  of  Denis  Minoret  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JGT].  Paris  adopted 
her,  and  society  acclaimed  her  success  as  a  singer  [Another 
Study  of  Woman,  V\.  In  the  midst  of  her  happiness  the 
vicomtesse  showed  herself,  in  1840,  the  devoted  friend  of 
Mme.  Calyste  du  Guenic,  who,  just  after  her  confinement, 
nearly  died  through  weeping  over  the  discovered  conjugal 
infidelity  of  her  husband  [Beatrix,  _P]. 

Postel  was  at  I'Houmeau,  a  faubourg  of  Angouldme,  the 
ward,  and  after  that  clerk  to  the  pharmacist  Chardon ;  he  suc- 
ceeded him  at  his  death ;  he  acted  kindly  to  the  unhappy 


COM&DIE   IIUMAINE  433 

family  of  his  old  employer ;  he  vainly  desired  to  marry  their 
daughter  Eve,  who  afterward  became  Mme.  David  Sechard, 
and  became  Leonie  Marron's  husband ;  by  his  wife  he  had 
mean,  puny  children  [Lost  Illusions,  'N\ 

Postel,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Leonie  Mar- 
RON,  daughter  of  Dr.  Marron,  a  physician  at  Marsac,  Cha- 
rante ;  out  of  jealousy,  she  sulked  with  the  handsome  Mme. 
Sechard ;  for  cupidity,  she  coddled  Abbe  Marron,  a  relative 
of  whom  she  meant  to  be  the  heiress  [Lost  Illusions,  lf\ 

Potasse,  The  Family  ;  the  sobriquet  of  the  Protezes,  who 
manufactured  chemical  products,  partners  of  Cochin,  who 
knew  Minard,  Phellion,  Thuillier,  and  Colleville ;  a  type  of 
Parisian  middle-class  folk,  about  1840  [The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Potel,  an  old  major  in  the  Imperial  armies ;  retired,  during 
the  Restoration,  to  Issoudun  together  with  Captain  Renard ; 
he  took  part  with  Maxime  Gilet  against  the  officers  Mignon- 
net  and  Carpentier,  the  declared  adversaries  of  the  chief  of 
the  Knights  of  Idlesse  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  «/]. 

Pougaud,  The  Little,  while  a  child  had  an  eye  burst  by 
Jacques  Cambremer;  at  that  early  period  of  his  existence 
this  bore  witness  to  his  precocious  perversity  [A  Seaside 
Tragedy,  e\. 

Poulain,  Madame,  born  in  1 778.  She  married  a  breeches- 
maker  who  died  while  of  poor  fortune,  for  the  sale  of  his  Funds 
brought  in  an  income  of  not  more  than  eleven  hundred 
francs.-  For  twenty  years  she  lived  and  worked  amongst  and 
for  Poulain*s  confreres,  and  in  spite  of  the  small  results  she 
strove  to  give  her  son  a  liberal  education,  hoping  for  a  rich 
establishment  for  him.  Mme.  Poulain  was  uneducated,  but 
tactful,  and  always  retired  when  her  son's  patients  called  upon 
him.  She  once  took  the  freedom  of  staying,  which  was  on 
the  occasion  of  Mme.  Cibot's  call,  on  the  Rue  d'Orleans,  at 
the  beginning  of  1845  ^^  ^^  ^'^^  ^^  ^^44  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\ 

Poulain,  Doctor,  born  about  1805,  without  fortune  and 
28 


434  COMPENDIUM 

without  friends ;  he  vainly  sought  a  large  practice  in  Paris, 
from  1845.  ^^  remained  in  his  mother's  house;  he  was  the 
doctor  of  the  '*  poor  of  the  quarter,"  and  lived  on  the  Rue 
d'Orleans,*  in  the  Marais  ;  he  knew  Mme.  Cibot,  the  janitress 
of  a  house  on  the  Rue  de  Normandie,  of  which  she  and  her 
husband  were  the  caretakers  for  the  owner,  C.  J.  Pillerault, 
the  Popinots'  uncle  \  Horace  Bianchon  was  his  family  phy- 
sician. Poulain  was  called  in  to  the  bedside  of  Pons,  who 
was  ill  with  a  bilious  and  nervous  fever,  by  Mme.  Cibot ;  by 
the  assistance  of  his  friend  Fraisier,  he  intrigued  in  the  favor 
of  Pons'  legal  heirs,  the  Camusots  de  Marville.  As  a  reward 
for  his  services,  in  1845,  ^^  ^^^  death  of  Pons  (which  was 
soon  followed  by  that  of  his  friend  Schmucke,  his  universal 
legatee),  Poulain  was  placed  on  the  staff  of  the  Quinze- 
Vingts  hospital,  and  became  the  house  surgeon  of  that  im- 
portant  establishment  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Poupart  or  Poupard,  of  Arcis-sur-Aube ;  the  husband  of 
Gothard's  sister,  one  of  the  heroes  in  the  Simeuse  affair; 
proprietor  of  the  Mulet  inn.  He  was  devoted  to  the  Cadig' 
nans,  the  Cinq-Cygnes,  and  the  Hauteserres ;  during  the 
electoral  campaign  of  1839,  Maxime  de  Trailles  lodged  with 
him ;  Trailles  was  then  a  government  emissary  and  had 
Paradis,  a  "tiger,"  with  him  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DU]. 

Poutin  was  colonel  of  the  Second  Lancers;  he  knew 
Marechal  Cottin,  minister  of  war  in  1841 ;  we  are  told  of 
him  that,  a  long  time  before  that  date,  Saverne,  one  of  his 
men,  having  been  guilty  of  theft  to  be  able  to  purchase  a 
shawl  for  his  mistress,  and  who  repented  of  his  crime,  swal- 
lowed broken  glass  to  escape  dishonor.  Prince  de  Wissem- 
bourg  reported  this  fact  to  Hulot  d'Ervy,  who  had  been 
guilty  of  public  pilfering  [Cousin  Betty,  tv]- 

Prelard,   Madame,  born  in   1808;  a  pretty  woman  who 

*  For  more  than  thirty-six  years  the  Rue  d'Orleans  has  been  a  part  of 
the  Rue  Chariot;  it  was  situated  between  the  Rues  Quatre-Fils  and 
Poitou. 


COM&DIE  HUMATNE.  435 

was  at  one  time  the  mistress  of  the  assassin  Auguste,  who  was 
executed.  She  remained  a  constant  dependent  of  Jacques 
Collin's ;  through  Jacqueline  Collin,  aunt  of  the  pseudo 
Herrera,  she  married  the  head  of  a  hardware  firm  on  the  Quai 
aux  Fleurs,  Paris,  at  the  sign  of  the  "  Bouclier  d'Achille" 
[Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;^]. 

Prevost,  Madame,  a  noted  florist,  of  a  firm  which  always 
existed  in  the  Palais-Royal.  In  the  early  part  of  1830 
Frederic  de  Nucingen  bought  a  bouquet  from  her  for  which 
he  paid  ten  louis,  and  which  was  destined  for  Esther  van 
Gobseck  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Z\ 

Prieur,  Madame,  a  clear-starcher  at  Angouldme,  where 
she  had  working  for  her  Mile.  Chardon,  who  afterward  be- 
came Mme.  David  Sechard  [Lost  Illusions,  N\ 

Pron,  M.  and  Madame,  a  household  of  professors :  M. 
Pron  looked  after  the  department  in  rhetoric,  1840,  in  a 
college  under  the  direction  of  the  priests,  Paris.  Born  a 
Barniol,  Mme.  Pron  was,  consequently,  the  sister-in-law  of 
Mme.  Barniol-Phellion  ;  about  the  same  time  she  succeeded 
the  Mesdemoiselles  La  Grave  in  the  direction  of  a  boarding- 
school  for  girls.  M.  and  Mme.  Pron  lived  in  the  Saint- 
Jacques  quarter,  and  frequented  the  Thuilliers*  salon  [The 
Middle  Classes,  ee7\. 

Protez  &  Chiffreville,  manufacturers  of  chemical  pro- 
ducts, Paris.  For  one  hundred  thousand  francs  they  supplied 
the  inventor,  Balthazar  Claes,  with  merchandise,  about  181 2 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  J)].  Partners  of  Cochin,  of  the 
Treasury,  '*  all  the  Protezes  and  Chiffrevilles  "  were  invited  to 
the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  Rue  Saint-Honore, 
December  17,  18 18  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Proust  was  a  clerk  to  Maltre  Bordin,  an  attorney  at  Paris, 
in  November,  1806.  He  made  known  to  Godeschal,  Oscar 
Husson,  and  Marest  the  many  years*  old  register  of  the  clerks 
whom  he  had  succeeded  in  Bordin's  office  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Provencal,  A,  born  in  1777,  without  doubt  in  the  vicinity 


436  COMPENDIUM 

of  Aries.  A  private  soldier  during  the  wars  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century ;  he  formed  a  part  of  General  Desaix's  ex- 
pedition in  farther  Egypt;  was  made  a  prisoner  by  the  Mau- 
grabins ;  he  escaped  them,  but  was  unable  to  leave  the  desert, 
where  dates  formed  his  sole  sustenance.  Reduced  to  the 
perilous  society  of  a  female  panther,  he  strangely  enough 
tamed  it  by  his,  at  first,  partly  unintended  caresses,  but  after- 
ward of  premeditation ;  he  ironically  gave  it  the  name  of 
Mignonne,  the  same  name  that  he  had  given  one  of  his  former 
mistresses,  Virginie.  The  Provengal  ended  by  killing  it, 
though  not  without  regret,  through  an  excess  of  fright  caused 
by  the  furious  love  of  the  tawny  beast.  About  the  same  time 
the  soldier  was  found  and  saved  by  some  men  of  his  own  com- 
pany. Thirty  years  later,  an  old  man,  worn  out  in  the  Impe- 
rial wars,  his  right  leg  amputated,  he  is  found  at  Marten's 
menagerie ;  he  narrated  the  story  of  his  adventure  to  a  young 
spectator  [A  Passion  in  the  Desert,  ds^  II.]. 


Quelus,  Abbe,  a  priest  of  Tours  or  its  neighborhood ;  he 
frequented  the  Chessels,  about  the  beginning  of  the  Restora- 
tion [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i]. 

Queverdo,  the  faithful  steward  of  Baron  de  Macumer's 
immense  estates  in  Sardinia ;  after  the  defeat  of  the  Liberals 
in  Spain,  1823,  to  insure  the  safety  of  his  master,  they  dis- 
guised themselves  as  coral  fishers  and  took  their  way  by  Anda- 
lusia [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\ 

Quillet,  Francois,  was  the  office-boy  on  the  newspaper 
established  in  1835,  by  Raoul  Nathan,  Rue  Feydeau,  Paris. 
He  served  his  master,  who  once  took  his  name  to  thwart  the 
search  of  his  divers  creditors  for  him  in  a  furnished-room 
house,  Rue  du  Mail  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  V\ 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  437 


Rabouilleuse,  La,  Flore  Brazier's  sobriquet;  she  after- 
ward became  Mme.  Jean-Jacques  Rouget,  then  Mme.  Philippe 
Bridau.     See  the  last  name. 

Rabourdin,  Xavier;  born  in  1784;  he  never  knew  his 
father.  He  was  the  son  of  a  woman,  both  handsome  and 
elegant,  who  lived  in  luxury,  but  who  left  him  a  poor  orphan 
when  sixteen  years  old,  the  age  at  which  he  left  the  Lycee 
Napoleon  and  entered  as  a  supernumerary  in  the  Bureau  of 
Finance.  At  twenty-two  Rabourdin  was  second  clerk,  and  at 
twenty-five  chief  clerk ;  an  unknown  protector  had  advanced 
him,  and  the  same  occult  influence  opened  M.  Leprince's,  the 
old  auctioneer  and  appraiser,  house  to  him ;  he  was  a  rich 
widower  whose  only  daughter  Rabourdin  loved  and  married. 
At  this  time  he  lost  his  powerful  protector,  caused  most  likely 
by  his  death ;  this  arrested  Rabourdin's  career;  in  spite  of  his 
intelligent  and  devoted  work,  he  was  still  kept  in  the  same 
post  he  had  held  for  forty  years,  when,  in  1824,  by  the  death 
of  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere,  a  vacancy  was  produced  in  the 
place  of  a  chief  of  division.  This  post,  which  he  was  ambi- 
tious, and  deserved,  to  secure,  was  given  to  the  incapable 
Baudoyer,  who  was  supported  by  the  church  and  finance. 
Disgusted,  Rabourdin  sent  in  his  resignation.  He  had  arranged 
a  very  remarkable  project  to  reform  the  administration ;  this 
probably  caused  his  downfall.  During  his  ministerial  career 
Rabourdin  lived  on  the  Rue  Duphot.  By  his  wife  he  had 
two  children  :  Charles,  born  1815;  and  a  daughter,  born  181 7. 
About  1830  Rabourdin  went  into  the  Bureau  of  Finance  and 
there  saw  Laurent  and  Gabriel,  his  old  messengers  in  the 
office,  nephews  of  Antoine,  then  retired ;  he  learned  from 
them  that  Colleville  and  Baudoyer  had  become  tax-collectors 
in  Paris  [Les  Employes,  cc\.     Under  the  Empire  he  attended 


438  COMPENDIUM 

the  soirees  at  the  Guillaumes,  the  dry  goods  house,  Rue  Saint- 
Denis  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t\  Later  he  was 
invited  with  his  wife  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  December  17,  1818  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  When  a 
widower,  in  1840  Rabourdin  was  a  railroad  director  of  a 
projected  line ;  about  this  time  he  took  up  his  abode  on  the 
Place  de  la  Madeleine,  in  a  house  which  had  recently  been 
bought  by  the  Thuilliers ;  he  had  known  Jerome  Thuillier  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Rabourdin,  Madame,  nee  Celestine  Leprince,  1796; 
tall  and  handsome,  of  a  splendid  figure ;  she  was  raised  by 
an  artistic  mother ;  she  was  well  groomed  and  a  fine  musi- 
cian ;  she  spoke  a  number  of  languages,  and,  beside  all,  had 
some  scientific  notions.  Married  by  her  father  (then  a  wid- 
ower), while  quite  young,  she  opened  a  salon  in  1824,  where 
would  have  been  seen,  only  for  the  baseness  of  Jean-Jacques 
Bixiou,  the  poet  Canalis,  the  painter  Schinner,  and  Dr.  Bian- 
chon,  whom  she  particularly  appreciated.  Those  attending 
were  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  Octave  de  Camps,  Comte  de 
Granville,  Vicomte  de  Fontaine,  F.  du  Bruel,  Andoche 
Finot,  Derville,  Chatelet  (then  a  deputy),  Ferdinand  du 
Tillet,  Paul  de  Manerville,  and  Vicomte  de  Portendu^re ;  a 
rival  of  Mme.  Colleville,  who  surnamed  Mme.  Rabourdin 
*'  the  Celimene  of  the  Rue  Duphot."  Much  spoiled  by  her 
mother,  Celestine  Leprince  believed  she  must  become  a  great 
personage.  So,  although  she  loved  M.  Rabourdin,  she  had 
once  hesitated  about  marrying  him  because  of  the  name  he 
would  give  her.  She  remained  strictly  faithful  to  him,  though 
she  might  have  procured  him  the  post  of  chief  of  the  division 
he  coveted  if  she  would  have  abandoned  herself  to  Chardin 
des  Lupeaulx,  secretary-general  to  the  minister  of  finance, 
who  was  very  much  smitten  by  her.  She  died  in  1840  [The 
Commission  in  Lunacy,  c — Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Rabourdin,  Charles.  A  good  student ;  son  of  the  fore- 
going; born  in  1815.    From  1836  to  1838  he  lived  in  a  hotel 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  489 

on  the  Rue  Corneille.  There  he  knew  Z.  Marcas  and  helped 
him  in  his  distress ;  he  attended  him  on  his  death-bed ;  him- 
self and  Juste,  a  medical  student,  were  the  only  followers  of 
that  unknown  great  man's  remains,  which  were  buried  in  the 
common  grave  in  Montparnasse  cemetery.  After  having  nar- 
rated the  sad  history  of  Z.  Marcas  to  some  of  his  friends, 
Charles  Rabourdin,  by  their  advice,  expatriated  himself,  the 
same  as  he  had  counseled  the  defunct ;  he  embarked  at  Havre 
for  the  Malays,  not  being  able  to  make  a  position  for  himself 
in  France  [Z.  Marcas,  ^ii]. 

Racquets,  Des.     See  Raquets,  Des. 

Ragon,  born  about  1748;  a  perfumer,  Rue  Saint-Honore, 
between  Saint-Roch  and  the  Rue  des  Frondeurs,  Paris,  during 
and  up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  he  was  a  little 
man  of  *' fully  five  feet,*'  a  nut-cracker  face,  gallant  and  pre- 
tentious. He  sold  his  store,  the  "Queen  of  Roses/'  to  his 
head  clerk,  Cesar  Birotteau,  after  Brumaire  18.  He  was 
formerly  perfumer  to  her  majesty  Queen  Marie-Antoinette ; 
M.  Ragon  was  always  a  zealous  Royalist,  and,  under  the  Re- 
public, the  Vendeans  made  use  of  his  services  in  correspond- 
ing with  the  princes  and  the  Royalist  committee  in  Paris. 
He  received  Abbe  de  MaroUes,  to  whom  he  gave  information, 
after  his  pointing  out  a  man,  that  the  person  was  the  execu- 
tioner of  Louis  XVI.,  which  was  the  first  time  his  identity  had 
been  revealed  to  the  abbe.  In  181 8,  he  was  the  victim  of  one 
of  Nucingen's  speculations,  called  "the  affair  of  the  Worts- 
chin  mines";  with  his  wife,  Ragon  seems  to  have  occupied 
apartments  on  the  Rue  du  Petit-Bourbon-Saint-Sulpice* 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O — An  Episode  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  t\ 

Ragon,  Madame,  nee  Popinot,  sister  of  Judge  Popinot, 
wife  of  the  foregoing  j  was  very  nearly  the  same  age  as  her 

*  Really  that  portion  of  the  Rue  Saint-Sulpice  comprised  between  the 
Rue  de  Seine  and  Place  Saint-Sulpice ;  that  small  part  between  the  Rue 
Garanciere  and  the  preceding  named  square  [place)  is  known  as  the  Rue 
des  Aveugles. 


440  COMPENDIUM 

husband.  In  1818  she  was  *'  a  tall,  thin  woman,  with  a  sharp 
nose  and  thin  lips,  and  looked  a  very  fair  imitation  of  a  mar- 
quise of  the  ancien  regime^^  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

RagouUeau,*  Jean-Antoine,  a  barrister  in  Paris,  was  the 
one  from  whom  his  signature  was  attempted  to  be  forced  and 
then  assassinated  by  Morin  the  widow,  who  was  convicted 
after  much  diverse  testimony  had  been  given,  amongst  other 
that  advanced  by  the  eldest  Poiret ;  she  was  sentenced  to 
twenty  years  of  hard  labor,  January  11,  181 2  [Father 
Goriot,  G\ 

Raguet  was  a  shop-boy  of  Cesar  Birotteau's,  the  perfumer, 
in  18 1 8  [Cesar  Birotteau,  0\ 

Raparlier,  a  notary  at  Douai ;  in  1825  he  wrote  the 
marriage  settlements  of  Marguerite  Claes  with  Emmanuel  de 
Solis,  of  Felicie  Claes  with  the  notary  Pierquin,  and  of 
Gabriel  Claes  with  Mile.  Conincks  [The  Quest  of  the  Abso- 
lute, D]. 

Rapp,  a  French  general,  born  at  Colmar  in  1772 ;  died  in 
1 82 1.  One  of  First  Consul  Bonaparte's  aides-de-camp;  one 
day  in  October,  1800,  he  is  found  in  the  service  of  his 
master  at  the  Tuileries  at  the  time  when  the  exiled  Corsican, 
Bartholomeo  de  Piombo,  so  inopportunely  presented  himself. 
Rapp  was  distrustful  of  the  faces  of  Corsicans  in  general,  and 
he  would,  if  it  had  been  permitted  him,  have  stayed  by  the 
side  of  the  Bonapartes,  who  were  compelled  smilingly  to  dismiss 
him  [The  Vendetta,  t],  October  13,  1806,  on  the  eve  of  the 
battle  of  Jena.  Rapp  made  an  important  communication  to 
the  Emperor,  at  the  time  when  Napoleon,  on  the  same  field, 
received  Mile.  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne  and  M.  de  Charge- 
boeuf,  who  had  arrived  express  from  France  to  solicit  pardon 
for  the  two  Simeuses  and  the  two  Hauteserres,  who  were 
falsely  implicated  in  a  political  trial,  convicted,  and  sentenced 
to  hard  labor  in  prison  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

*  The  true 'orthography  of  this  name,  as  we  learn  from  an  authentic 
source,  is  Ragouleau  and  not  Ragoulleau.J 


COMEDIE  HI/MAINE.  441 

Raquets,  Des,  of  Douai,  a  Fleming  devoted  to  the  tradi- 
tions and  usages  of  his  native  province ;  uncle  of  the  im- 
mensely rich  notary  Pierquin,  and  his  sole  heir ;  he  received 
his  succession  in  the  last  years  of  the  Restoration  [Tlie  Quest 
of  the  Absolute,  1>]. 

Rastignac,  Chevalier  de,  great-uncle  of  Eugene  de 
Rastignac  ;  was  a  vice-admiral  and  commanded  le  Venguer 
before  1789,  and  lost  all  his  fortune  in  the  service  of  the 
King;  the  Revolutionary  government  would  not  recognize 
his  accounts  in  the  liquidation  which  it  made  of  the  Indian 
Company  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Rastignac,  Baron  and  Baronne  de,  who  had,  near  Ruf- 
fec,  Charente,  an  estate  on  which  they  lived  at  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  commencement  of  the  nineteenth, 
and  where  were  born  five  children :  Eugene,  Laure-Rose, 
Agathe,  Gabriel,  and  Henri.  They  were  poor  and  lived  in 
strict  retirement,  maintaining  an  imposing  dignity,  so  that 
their  neighbors,  the  Marquis  and  Marquise  de  Pimental,  ex- 
ercised with  their  countenance,  being  friendly  with  this  Court 
nobility,  a  great  influence  throughout  the  province.  They 
were  once  invited  to  Mme.  Bargeton's,  at  Angouleme ;  they 
there  saw  Lucien  de  Rubempre  and  appreciated  him  [Father 
Goriot,  6r — Lost  Illusions,  N^. 

Rastignac,  Eugene  de,*  the  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing, 
born  at  Rastignac,  near  Ruffec,  1797.  He  went  to  Paris  in 
1819  to  study  law;  he  one  time  lived  on  the  third  floor  of 
the  Vauquer  boarding-house,  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, 
and  was  then  intimate  with  Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin, 
who  particularly  interested  himself  in  trying  to  get  him 
married  to  Victorine  Taillefer ;  he  became  the  lover  of  Mme. 
de  Nucingen,  the  second  daughter  of  Joachim  Goriot,  an  old 
vermicelli  dealer;  and  in  February,  1820,  went  to  live  in  a 
pretty  lodging,  rented,  furnished,  and  improved  by  the  father 

*  As  is  remarked  in  a  recent  publication  by  M.  S.  de  Lovenjoul,  there 
already  exists  an  abridged  biography  of  Eugdne  de  Rastignac. 


442  COMPENDIUM 

ot  his  mistress.  Goriot  died  in  his  arms ;  only  the  servant, 
Cristophe,  and  himself  followed  the  goodman's  funeral.  At 
the  Vauquer  boarding-house  he  was  also  intimate  with  Horace 
Bianchon,  a  medical  student  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  In  182 1, 
at  the  opera,  young  Rastignac  made  all  the  people  in  two 
boxes  laugh  aloud  at  the  absurd  provincialism  of  Mme.  de 
Bargeton  and  the  *'  Chardon  fils  "*  (Lucien  de  Rubempre)  ; 
this  caused  Mme.  d'Espard  to  leave  the  theatre  and  take  her 
relation  with  her,  the  latter  publicly  deserting  the  ''Distin- 
guished Provincial."  Some  months  later  Rastignac  courted 
the  same  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  who  was  then  influential ; 
with  de  Marsay  he  accepted  the  position  as  the  poet's  witness 
in  the  duel  he  fought  with  Michel  Chrestien,  on  the  subject  of 
Daniel  d'Arthez  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  M.\ 
At  the  last  opera-ball  of  1824,  Rastignac  again  encountered 
Rubempre,  at  the  time  of  his  reappearance  after  being  for  a 
long  time  absent  from  Paris ;  with  him  was  Vautrin,  who 
called  his  memory  back  to  the  Vauquer  boarding-house,  and 
who  enjoined  him  with  authority  to  treat  Lucien  as  a  friend. 
Soon  after  Rastignac  became  one  of  the  frequenters  of  the 
sumptuous  mansion  on  the  Rue  Saint-Georges,  in  which 
Nucingen  had  installed  Esther  van  Gobseck  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  1^\  Rastignac  assisted  at  Lucien  de  Rubempre's 
funeral  in  May,  1830  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^.  About  the 
same  time  Comte  de  Fontaine  asked  his  daughter,  Emilie, 
that  she  accept  Rastignac,  whom  he  named  among  several 
others,  as  her  husband,  but  she,  knowing  of  the  illicit  relations 
existing  between  that  ambitious  young  man  and  Mme.  de 
Nucingen,  maliciously  repulsed  him  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  1^]. 
In  1828  Rastignac  sought  to  become  Mme.  d'Espard's  lover, 
but  was  turned  from  his  purpose  by  his  friend.  Dr.  Bianchon 
[The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c].  In  the  same  year  Rastig- 
nac was  treated  impertinently  by  Mme.  de  Listomere,  when 
he  went  to  reclaim  a  letter  intended  for  Delphine  de  Nucingen 
*  The  son  of  a  thistle  or  young  thistle. 


COM&DJE  HUMAINE.  443 

and  wrongly  delivered  to  the  former  lady  [A  Study  of 
Woman,  €L\.  After  the  Revolution  of  July,  he  is  found 
present  at  Mile,  des  Touches',  when  de  Marsay  told  the  story  of 
his  first  love  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\.  At  this  time 
he  was  in  amicable  relationship  with  Raphael  de  Valentin 
[The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\.  In  1832  Rastignac  became  a 
baron  ;  was  an  under-secretary  of  State  in  a  department  of 
which  de  Marsay  was  the  minister  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess 
of  Cadignan,  ;§;].  In  1833-34  he  made  himself  the  sick- 
nurse  of  the  dying  minister,  hoping  that  he  would  be  put  in 
his  will.  One  evening  about  the  same  time  he  was  at  supper 
at  Very's,  when  he  met  Raoul  Nathan  and  Emile  Blondet, 
whom  he  frequently  encountered  in  society,  and  strongly 
urged  Nathan  to  profit  by  the  favors  of  Comtesse  Felix  de 
Vandenesse  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F].  In  1833,  at  the  Prin- 
cess de  Cadignan's,  in  the  presence  of  the  Marquise  d'Espard, 
the  two  old  Dues  de  Lenoncourt  and  Navarreins,  the  Comte 
and  Comtesse  de  Vandenesse,  d'Arthez,  two  ambassadors,  and 
two  orators  famous  in  the  Peers'  Chamber,  Rastignac  heard 
the  minister  reveal  the  secret  of  the  abduction  of  Senator 
Malin,  an  affair  that  dated  from  1806  [A  Historical  Mys- 
tery, ff\  The  third  liquidation  of  Nucingen  enriched  him 
in  1836;  he  was  one  of  his  more  or  less  conscious  accom- 
plices; he  then  owned  an  income  of  forty  thousand  francs 
[The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\  In  1838  he  went  to  the  inau- 
guration of  Josepha's  mansion.  Rue  de  la  Ville-l'Eveque ;  he 
was  one  of  the  witnesses  for  Wenceslas  Steinbock  when  he 
married  Hortense  Hulot ;  the  same  year  he  himself  was 
married  to  Augusta  de  Nucingen,  daughter  of  Delpline  de 
Nucingen,  his  old  mistress,  whom  he  had  left  for  five  years. 
In  1839  Rastignac  was  a  minister  for  the  second  time,  and 
his  public  works  nearly  made  him  a  count  in  spite  of  himself. 
In  1845  h^  was  a  peer  of  France  and  owned  an  income  of 
three  hundred  thousand  francs.  Eugene  de  Rastignac  was 
accustomed  to  saying  :   "  There  is  no  absolute  virtue;  it  is  all 


444  COMPENDIUM 

a  matter  of  circumstances"  [Cousin  Betty,  w — The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  Djy — The  Unconscious  Mummers,  te]. 

Rastignac,  Laure-Rose  and  Agathe  de,*  sisters  of  Eu- 
gene de  Rastignac,  the  second  and  third  children  of  Baron 
and  Baronne  de  Rastignac;  the  eldest,  Laure,  was  born  in 
1801 ;  the  second,  Agathe,  in  1802 ;  both  were  modestly 
brought  up  at  Rastignac  castle  ;  in  1819  they  sent  their  sav- 
ings to  their  brother  Eugene,  then  a  student  in  Paris.  Some 
years  afterward  he  had  become  rich  and  powerful  and  he 
married  one  of  them  to  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon,  and  the 
other  to  a  minister.  In  1821  Laure,  with  her  father  and 
mother,  was  received  at  M.  and  Mme.  de  Bargeton's  home, 
and  there  admired  Lucien  de  Rubempre  [Father  Goriot,  6r — 
Lost  Illusions,  3^].  Mme.  de  la  Roche-Hugon  was  the 
mother  of  numerous  daughters,  whom  she  took  to  a  children's 
ball  held  at  Mme.  de  I'Estorade's,  in  1839  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  J>D]. 

Rastignac,  Monseigneur  Gabriel  de,  brother  of  Eugene 
de  Rastignac,  one  of  the  two  last  children  of  the  Baron  and 
Baronne  de  Rastignac ;  was  private  secretary  to  the  bishop  of 
Limoges,  at  the  end  of  the  Restoration  and  during  the  crim- 
inal trial  of  Tascheron ;  he  became  a  bishop,  the  same  as  his 
superior,  while  quite  young,  in  1832,  being  at  that  time  less 
than  thirty  years  old.  He  was  consecrated  by  Archbishop 
Dutheil  [Father  Goriot,  6r— The  Country  Parson,  ^— A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Rastignac,  Henri  de,  without  a  doubt  the  fifth  child  of 
Baron  and  Baronne  de  Rastignac — nothing  is  known  of  his 
life  [Father  Goriot,  G\ 

Ratel,  a  gendarme  in  the  department  of  the  Orne,  1809; 
he  was,  with  his  colleague  Mallet,  instructed  to  find  "  the 
lady,"  Bryond  des  Minieres,  implicated  in  the  affair  called 

*  The  Mesdemoiselles  de  Rastignac  have  their  biographies  written 
together,  and  under  their  maiden  names,  as  we  are  ignorant  which  of  the 
two  married  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  445 

the  '•  Chauffeurs  of  Mortagne";  as  a  fact,  he  did  find  the 
accused,  but  allowed  himself  to  be  seduced  by  her,  so  that, 
instead  of  arresting  her,  he  and  Mallet  protected  and  allowed 
her  to  flee.  Ratel,  when  imprisoned,  confessed  all,  and,  with- 
out waiting  for  his  sentence,  committed  suicide  [The  Seamy 
Side  of  History,  T\ 

Ravenouillet,  the  janitor  of  the  house  in  which  Bixiou 
lived,  in  1845,  ^o-  ^^^  Rue  Richelieu;  he  was  the  son  of  a 
grocer  of  Carcassonne ;  he  had  always  been  a  janitor,  and  had 
been  given  his  first  place  by  his  compatriot,  Massol.  Rave- 
nouillet, although  uneducated,  did  not  lack  intelligence; 
according  to  Bixiou,  he  was  "providence  at  thirty  per  cent." 
of  the  sixty  or  seventy  tenants  in  the  house  ;  he  made  off  them 
an  income  of  six  thousand  francs  a  month  [The  Unconscious 
Mummers,  le]. 

Ravenouillet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing  \Jbid.\ 

Ravenouillet,  Lucienne,  daughter  of  the  foregoing,  was, 
in  1845,  ^  student  of  singing  in  the  Conservatory  of  Music, 
Paris  S^Ibid.\ 

Regnauld,*  Baron,  1754-1829;  a  celebrated  painter,  a 
member  of  the  Institute.  Joseph  Bridau,  when  fourteen  years 
of  age,  used  very  frequently  to  go  to  his  study  in  181 2-13 
[A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Regnauld  de  Saint-Jean  d'Angely,  "a  clerk  in  the 
office  of  Maitre  Bordin,  procureur  to  the  Chastelet,"  in  1787 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Regnault,  ex-head  clerk  to  Maitre  Roguin,  notary,  Paris ; 
he  went  to  Vendome  in  1816  and  there  purchased  a  notary's 
practice.  Called  in  by  Mme.  de  Merret,  on  her  death-bed, 
he  was  made  the  executor  of  her  will :  in  this  quality,  some 
years  later,  he  begged  Dr.  Bianchon  to  respect  one  of  the 
last  wishes  of  the  dead,  and  cease  from  promenading  in  the 
garden  attached  to  the  Great  Breteche,  which  had  remained 
empty  and  deserted  for  half  a  century,  and  entrance  thereto 

*  Jean-Baptiste  Regnault,  a  noted  historical  painter.— Translator. 


446  COMPENDIUM 

being  rigorously  denied.  Maitre  Regnault  was  married  to  a 
rich  cousin  from  Vendome.  A  long,  thin  man,  with  a  faded, 
freckled  face,  and  a  little,  pointed  head,  he  continually  inter- 
larded his  conversation  with  the  expression  '^a  little  moment" 
[The  Great  Breteche,  ?]. 

Regnier,  Claude-Antoine,  Due  de  Massa,  born  in  1746, 
died  in  1814;  an  advocate,  then  a  deputy  to  the  Constitution; 
was  a  ''great  judge"  (as  the  minister  of  justice  was  then 
called)  at  the  time  of  the  celebrated  trial  of  the  Simeuses  and 
Hauteserres,  who  were  accused  of  the  abduction  of  Senator 
Malin ;  he  remarked  on  the  talent  shown  by  Granville  in  de- 
fense of  the  accused,  and,  some  time  later,  having  met  the 
Arch-chancellor  Cambaceres,  he  called  the  young  barrister  into 
his  carriage  and  conveyed  him  to  the  door  of  his  residence  on 
the  Quai  des  Augustines;  during  the  ride  he  gave  him 
practical  advice  and  assured  him  of  his  favor  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff — A  Second  Home,  ^\ 

Regulus,  one  of  the  attendants  at  the  hair-dressing  estab- 
lishments of  Mougin,  called  Marius,  Place  de  la  Bourse, 
Paris,  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  tf]. 

Remonencq,  an  Auvergnat,  a  marine-stores  dealer  and 
broker.  Rue  de  Normandie,  Paris ;  he  was  located  in  the 
same  house  as  that  in  which  Pons  and  Schmucke  resided,  and 
of  which  the  Cibots  were  the  janitors.  Remonencq  went  to 
Paris,  where  from  1825  to  1831  he  bought  and  sold  curiosities, 
picking  them  up  along  the  Boulevard  Beaumarchis,  and 
worked  as  a  traveling  tinker  on  the  Rue  de  Lappe;  he 
opened  a  wretched  store  in  the  same  quarter  for  second- 
hand goods.  He  lived  in  the  most  sordid  and  miserly 
manner.  He  understood  Pons  and  appraised  the  treasures  of 
the  old  collector  at  their  real  value ;  his  grasping  avaricious- 
ness  urged  him  on  to  crime :  he  provoked  the  thefts  com- 
mitted by  Mme.  Cibot  on  Pons ;  he  poisoned  that  woman's 
husband  in  order  to  marry  her  when  she  became  a  widow; 
this  he  did,  and  afterward  established  a  fine  curiosity  store  on 


COMJ^DTE  HUMAINE.  447 

the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine.  About  1846  he  poisoned 
himself,  by  mistake,  with  a  glass  of  vitriol  which  he  had 
provided  to  carry  off  his  wife  [Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Remonencq,  Mademoiselle,  sister  of  the  foregoing  • 
'^  a  sort  of  idiot,  with  a  vacant  stare,  dressed  like  a  Japanese 
idol."  She  lived  with  her  brother,  and  economically  managed 
his  household  [Cousin  Pons,  flc]. 

Remonencq,  Madame,  born  in  1796;  the  former  "  hand- 
some oyster-opener"  at  the  Cadran  Bleu,  Paris;  in  1828 
she  married  for  love  the  janitor-tailor  Cibot,  who  was  estab- 
lished in  the  porter's  lodge  of  a  house  on  the  Rue  de  Nor- 
mandie,  belonging  to  C.  J.  Pillerault,  and  in  which  the  two 
musicians.  Pons  and  Schmucke,  resided.  For  some  time  she 
had  charge  of  the  two  bachelors*  household  and  at  first  served 
them  with  fidelity;  then,  excited  by  Remonencq  and  en- 
couraged by  Mme.  Fontaine,  the  fortune-teller,  she  began  to 
steal  from  the  unfortunate  Pons.  Her  husband  had  been 
poisoned  by  Remonencq,  though,  indeed,  without  herself 
being  an  accomplice  in  that  crime,  and  after  his  death  she 
married  the  broker,  who  had  become  a  dealer  in  curiosities, 
enthroned  in  a  store  on  the  Boulevard  de  la  Madeleine ;  she 
survived  her  second  husband  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Remy  or  Remy,  Jean,  a  peasant  of  Arcis-sur-Aube, 
against  whom  a  neighbor  lost  a  trial  touching  the  boundary 
of  a  field.  This  neighbor,  who  took  to  drink,  created  a  dis- 
turbance at  an  election  meeting,  organized  on  behalf  of  Dor- 
lange-Sallenauve  in  April,  1839,  by  making  loud  complaints 
against  Jean  Remy.  Jean  Remy  had  a  daughter  who  ob- 
tained, without  any  title  therefor,  by  the  favor  of  a  deputy,  a 
profitable  tobacco  sales  place  on  the  Rue  Mouffetard,  Paris 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X)X)]. 

Renard,  an  old  captain  in  the  Imperial  armies,  retired  to 
Issoudun,  under  the  Restoration ;  one  of  the  officers  in  the 
faubourg  de  Rome,  who  were  hostile  to  the  **Pekins"  and 
partisans    of    Maxence   (Max)   Gilet.      Renard    and   Major 


448  COMPENDIUM 

Potel  acted  in  the  duel  he  fought  with  Philippe  Bridau,  who 
killed  their  principal  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\ 

Renard,  a  sergeant-major  in  a  cavalry  regiment,  1812. 
He  was  educated  to  be  a  notary,  but  became  a  non-com- 
missioned officer ;  he  had  the  face  of  a  young  girl  and  passed 
for  a  *'cajoler."  The  friend  of  Genestas,  he  many  times 
saved  his  life,  but  took  from  him  a  Jewess  of  Poland  whom  he 
loved  \  he  married  her  in  the  Sarmatian  manner,  and  dying 
left  her  with  child :  Renard  had  been  mortally  wounded  in 
an  engagement  against  the  Russians,  before  the  battle  of 
Lutzen.  Before  he  died  he  confessed  his  treason  to  Genestas, 
and  implored  him  to  marry  the  Jewess  and  to  adopt  the  child 
she  would  have  by  himself — this  the  simple-hearted  officer 
did.  Renard  was  a  Parisian,  the  son  of  a  wholesale  grocer, 
**a  toothless  old  shark,"  who  would  have  nothing  to  say  to 
the  sergeant-major's  young  shoot  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Renard,  Madame.     See  Genestas,  Madame. 

Renard,  Adrien.     See  Genestas,  Adrien. 

Rene,  M.  du  Bousquier's  only  servant,  at  Alen^on,  1816; 
a  kind  of  Breton  simpleton,  a  remarkable  guzzler,  but  of 
absolute  discretion  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Restaud,  Comte  de,  whose  sad  life  Barchou  de  Penhoen, 
a  school-fellow  of  Dufaure's  and  Lambert's,  was  the  first  to 
make  known.  Born  about  1780;  the  husband  of  Anastasie 
Goriot,  who  ruined  and  dishonored  him  ;  he  died  December, 
1824,  on  the  Rue  du  Helder,  Paris,  as  he  was  trying  to  pre- 
serve his  eldest  son's  interest,  who  was  the  only  one  of  Mme. 
de  Restaud's  three  children  whom  he  would  acknowledge  as 
his  own.  In  the  end  he  made  a  pretense  of  exaggerated  ex- 
penditure and  constituted  himself  the  fictitious  debtor  of 
Gobseck,  who  assured  him  by  a  counter-deed  that  the  property 
should  become  his  son's.  M.  de  Restaud  resembled  the  Due 
de  Richelieu  and  had  the  aristocratic  figure  of  the  statesmen 
of  high  degree  [Gobseck,  g — Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Restaud,  Comtesse  Anastasie  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  449 

the  eldest  daughter  of  J.  J.  Goriot ;  a  handsome  brunette, 
very  attractive,  and  with  the  manner  of  the  nobility.  Her 
sister — the  gentle  and  light-complexioned  Mme.  de  Nucingen 
— pointed  her  out  as  remorseless  and  ungrateful  to  the  ten- 
derest  and  most  feeble  of  fathers.  She  had  three  children — 
two  boys  and  one  girl — of  whom  one  only,  Ernest  the  eldest, 
was  really  by  her  husband.  For  her  lover,  Maxime  de 
Trailles,  she  ruined  him ;  and  for  her  lover's  sake  sold  her 
jewels  to  Gobseck  and  seriously  compromised  her  own  future. 
Shortly  after  her  husband's  last  supper,  which  she  impatiently 
watched,  she  stole  under  his  ears  and  burned  the  papers 
which  she  thought  were  against  the  interest  of  her  last  chil- 
dren. She  had  not  taken  Gobseck,  the  fictitious  creditor, 
into  account,  but  found  that  all  the  property  remained  in  him 
[Gobseck,  gr— Father  Goriot,  6r].  Mme.  de  Restaud  died 
at  the  end  of  the  year  1843.* 

Restaud,  Ernest  de,  the  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing; 
really  the  husband's  only  child,  the  other  two  children  hav- 
ing Maxime  de  Trailles  as  their  natural  father.  While  still  a 
child  he  received  from  his  dying  father  a  sealed  packet  con- 
taining his  father's  will,  which  he  was  directed  to  deliver  to 
Derville  the  attorney ;  but  Mme.  de  Restaud,  by  using  her 
maternal  power,  made  Ernest  break  the  promise  given  to  his 
father.  At  his  majority  Ernest  was  put  in  possession  of  the 
late  M.  de  Restaud's  fortune  by  Gobseck,  the  fictitious  cred- 
itor of  the  defunct.  He  married  Camille  de  Grandlieu,  whom 
he  loved  and  by  whom  he  was  beloved.  By  this  marriage 
Ernest  de  Restaud  found  himself  in  the  Legitimist  party,  the 
while  his  brother  Felix  found  a  position  under  a  minister,  in 
Louis-Phillipe's  reign,  taking  the  other  political  way  [Gob- 
seck, g — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>iy\. 

Restaud,  Madame  Ernest  de,  nee  Camille  de  Grand- 
lieu,  in  1813;  daughter  of  Vicomtesse  de  Grandlieu;  while 
still  young  she  loved  Ernest  de  Restaud,  and  when  he  attained 

*  Her  biography  is  thus  filled  out  by  Rabou. — Translator. 
29 


450  COMPENDIUM 

his  majority  she  married  him  in  the  early  part  of  Louis-Phil- 
ippe's reign  [Gobseck,  g — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DJ>]. 

Restaud,  Felix-Georges  de,  one  of  the  two  youngest 
children  of  the  Comte  and  Comtesse  de  Restaud  ;  was  prob- 
ably Maxime  de  Trailles'  natural  son.  In  1839  ^^  was  chief 
of  an  office  under  his  cousin,  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  the  min- 
ister of  public  works  [Gobseck,  g — The  Deputy  for  Ar- 
cis, Djy\. 

Restaud,  Pauline  de,  the  legal  daughter  of  Comte  and 
Comtesse  de  Restaud,  but  without  doubt  Maxime  de  Trailles' 
natural  daughter.  This  is  the  only  detail  of  her  life  that  we 
possess  [Gobseck,  gr], 

Reybert,  De,  a  captain  in  the  7th  regiment  of  artillery, 
under  the  Empire ;  born  in  Messina.  Under  the  Restoration 
he  retired  to  Presles,  Seine-et-Oise,  with  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ter; he  had  a  pension  of  only  six  hundred  francs.  The 
neighbor  of  Moreau,  Comte  de  Serizy's  steward,  he  heard 
complaints  of  his  doings ;  the  count  was  apprised  of  the 
steward's  wrongdoing  by  Mme.  de  Reybert,  and  her  husband 
was  chosen  to  succeed  Moreau.  Reybert  married  his  daugh- 
ter, without  dowry,  to  Leger,  the  wealthy  farmer  [A  Start  in 
Life,  s\ 

Reybert,  Madame  de,  nee  Corroy,  wife  of  the  foregoing  ; 
like  him,  she  was  of  noble  origin,  and  from  the  same  place. 
She  had  a  large  face  pitted  with  smallpox,  was  of  a  tall,  thin 
figure,  had  clear,  ardent  eyes,  and  held  herself  as  **  straight 
as  a  picket  fence."  She  was  an  austere  Puritan  and  subscribed 
to  the  "  Courrier  Frangais."  During  a  visit  of  Comte  de 
Serizy  to  Presles  she  called  upon  him  and  told  of  Moreau's 
actions;  she  obtained  the  stewardship  of  Presles  for  her 
husband  [A  Start  in  Life,  8\. 

Rhetore,  Due  Alphonse  de,  eldest  son  of  the  Due  and 
Duchesse  de  Chaulieu  ;  he  entered  the  diplomatic  service  and 
was  an  ambassador.  For  a  number  of  years,  under  the  Res- 
toration, he  kept  Claudine  Chaffaroux,  called  TuUia,  the  pre- 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  451 

miere  danseuse  at  the  opera,  who  married  du  Bruel  in  1824. 
He  knew  in  his  world,  which  was  the  world  of  gallantry, 
Lucien  de  Rubempre.  One  evening  he  received  him  in  his 
box,  at  a  first  performance  at  the  Ambigu,  in  182 1,  and  re- 
proached him  with  having  caused  the  despair  of  Chatelet  and 
Mme.  de  Bargeton  by  his  railleries  in  a  newspaper ;  at  the 
same  time,  while  the  young  man  was  still  called  Chardon,  he 
advised  him  to  turn  Royalist  in  order  that  he  might  be  able 
to  get  from  Louis  XVIII.  the  title  and  name  of  Rubempre, 
his  maternal  ancestors.  The  Due  de  Rhetore  did  not  really 
like  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  At  a  performance  at  the  Italiens, 
shortly  afterward,  he  slandered  him  before  Mme.  de  Serizy, 
who  was  seriously  smitten  by  the  poet  [A  Bachelor's  Estab- 
lishment, e7— A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iMT— Letters 
of  Two  Brides,  t?].  In  1835  he  married  the  Duchesse  d'Ar- 
gaiolo,  nee  Princesse  Soderini,  of  great  beauty  and  immense 
fortune  [Albert  Savaron,  f^  He  fought  a  duel  with  Dor- 
lange-Sallenauve  in  1839,  having  provoked  the  latter  thereto 
by  speaking,  in  a  loud  voice,  in  a  disrespectful  manner  of 
Marie  Gaston,  the  second  husband  of  his  own  sister,  Louise 
de  Chaulieu.  The  scene  which  led  to  the  encounter  took 
place  at  the  opera,  in  the  presence  of  M.  de  Ronquerolles, 
who  acted,  with  General  Montriveau,  as  his  second.  Dor- 
lange  was  wounded  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DJ)].  And  also 
from  Rabou's  biography. 

Rhetore,  Duchesse  de,  nee  Francesca  Soderini,  in 
1802;  a  very  handsome  and  wealthy- Florentine,  who  was 
married  while  quite  young  to  the  Due  d'Arga'iolo,  who  was, 
like  herself,  very  wealthy,  but  much  older.  In  Switzerland 
or  Italy  she  was  met  by  Albert  Savarus,  when,  for  political 
reasons,  she  and  her  husband  were  proscribed  and  lived  in 
retirement  on  their  estates.  The  Duchesse  d'Arga'iolo  and 
Albert  Savarus  loved  each  other  platonically,  and  Francesca 
promised  her  hand  to  the  Frenchman,  when  she  should 
become  a  widow.     In  1835,  having  lost  her  husband  for  some 


452  COMPENDIUM 

time,  and  by  the  machinations  of  Rosalie  de  Watteville,  who 
made  her  think  she  was  forgotten  by  and  treated  treacherously 
by  Savarus,  and  of  whom  she  had  received  no  news,  she  gave 
her  hand  to  the  Due  de  Rh^tore,  an  old  ambassador;  the 
marriage  took  place  with  great  eclat  in  Florence,  in  the 
month  of  May.  The  Duchesse  d'ArgaVolo  is  designated  by 
the  name  of  the  Princesse  Gandolphini  in  "I'Ambitieux  par 
amour,"  a  novel  published  in  "  la  Revue  del'Est,'*  in  1834. 
Under  Louis-Philippe,  the  Duchesse  de  Rhetore  crossed  the 
path  of  Mile,  de  Watteville  at  a  charity  festival.  She  met 
her  the  second  time  at  an  opera-ball,  when  Mile,  de  Watte- 
ville was  unmasked  of  her  black  deed  and  Savarus  shown  to 
be  innocent  [Albert  Savaron,  f~\. 

Richard,  a  widow  of  Nemours,  from  whom  Ursule  Mi- 
rouet,  afterward  Vicomtesse  de  Portenduere,  bought  a  house 
in  which  to  live,  after  the  death  of  her  guardian,  Dr.  Minoret 
[Ursule  Mirouet,  JJ"]. 

Ridal,  FuLGENCE,  a  dramatic  author;  member  of  the 
C^nacle  which  met  at  d'Arthez's  house.  Rue  des  Quatre- 
Vents,  under  the  Restoration  ;  he  rallied  at  Leon  Giraud's 
doctrines ;  he  was  a  masked  Rabelaisian,  and  of  a  careless 
nature,  slothful  and  skeptical,  at  once  melancholy  and  gay, 
and  nicknamed  by  his  friends  ''the  dog  of  the  regiment." 
Fulgence  Ridal,  together  with  Joseph  Bridau  and  the  other 
members  of  the  Cenacle,  attended  a  soiree  given  by  Mme. 
Bridau,  in  18 19,  to  celebrate  the  return  of  her  son  Philippe 
from  Texas  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  eT — A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  ilH"].  In  1845  ^e  was  an  old  vaudevilliste 
very  much  favored  by  the  ministry ;  he  had  the  management 
of  a  theatre  with  Lousteau  as  a  partner  [The  Unconscious 
Mummers,  tf]. 

Riffe,  a  copying-clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  1824 
[Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Rifoel.     See  Vissard,  Chevalier  du. 

Riganson,  called  le  BifTon,  called  also  the  Canon.     With 


COM&DIE  BUMA/NE.  453 

his  mistress,  la  Biffe,  he  formed  one  of  the  most  redoubtable 
households  in  the  "  bunco  steerers'  "  profession.  As  a  convict, 
he  knew  Jacques  Collin,  called  Vautrin ;  he  was  in  the  Con- 
ciergerie,  and  knew  him  when,  in  May,  1830,  the  judge  of  in- 
struction had  sent  him  to  that  place  after  the  death  of  Esther  van 
Gobseck.  Riganson  was  of  low  stature,  squat  and  fat,  with  a 
livid  skin  and  sunken  black  eyes  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z^. 

Rigou,  Gregoire,  born  in  1756;  at  one  time  a  Benedic- 
tine monk.  Under  the  Republic  he  married  Arsene  Pichard, 
the  sole  heiress  of  the  rich  Cure  Niseron  ;  he  was  a  usurer, 
and  became  mayor  of  Blangy  ;  he  remained  in  that  position 
until  182 1,  when  he  was  replaced  by  Comte  de  Montcornet. 
When  the  general  came  into  that  country,  Rigou  tried  to 
conciliate  him ;  but  having  been  at  once  treated  with  scorn, 
he  became  one  of  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  Montcornet, 
and,  with  Gaubertin,  the  mayor  of  Ville-aux-Fayes,  and  Soudry, 
the  mayor  of  Soulanges,  formed  a  triumvirate  which  sustained 
the  peasantry  in  their  warfare  against  the  owner  of  the  Aigues, 
with  the  aid  and  complicity,  more  or  less  direct,  of  the  local 
middle-classes  ;  all  being  done  that  should  oblige  the  general  to 
sell  his  estate,  and  which  was  finally  brought  about  by  the 
three  associates.  Rigou  was  egotistic,  voluptuous,  and  avari- 
cious:  he  looked  "  like  a  condor."  By  a  clever  pun  he  was 
often  called  Grigou*  (G.  Rigou).  "  As  deep  as  a  monk,  as  silent 
as  a  Benedictine,  and  as  cunning  as  a  priest,  this  man  would  have 
been  a  Tiberius  in  Rome,  a  Richelieu  under  Louis  XIIL,  and 
a  Fouche  under  the  Convention  "  [The  Peasantry,  2^]. 

Rigou,  Madame,  nee  Arsene  Pichard,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going, niece  of  a  demoiselle  Pichard,  who  was  the  Cure 
Niseron's  housekeeper-mistress,  under  the  Revolution ;  she 
succeeded  her  in  that  position  and  became  the  heiress  of  the 
rich  priest  whom  she  had  served  together  with  her  aunt.  In 
her  youth  she  was  know^  as  "the  handsome  Arsene"; 
although  she  could  neither  read  nor  write,  she  managed  ex- 
*  A  sordid  miser. 


454  COMPENDIUM 

cellently  for  the  cure ;  married  to  Rigou,  she  became  the  slave 
of  the  old  Benedictine ;  she  lost  her  Rubens  freshness,  her 
magical  figure,  her  splendid  teeth  and  bright  eyes  in  her  only 
confinement,  when  she  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  who  afterward 
married  Soudry's  son.  Mme.  Rigou  passively  looked  on  at 
the  constant  infidelities  of  her  husband,  who  for  that  very  cause 
always  kept  handsome  servants  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Rivaudoult  d'Arschoot,  of  the  Dulmen  branch ;  an 
illustrious  family  of  Gallicia  or  the  Red  Russias,  of  whom  the 
Montriveaus  were  the  inheritors  by  their  great-grandmother  of 
their  titles  and  to  which  they  succeeded  for  the  lack  of 
direct  heirs  [The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  &&]. 

Rivet,  AcHiLLE,  lace-maker  and  embroiderer,  Rue  des 
Mauvaises-Paroles,*  Paris,  in  the  old  hotel  de  Langeais,  built 
by  that  illustrious  family  at  the  time  when  the  great  lords  of 
the  kingdom  were  gathered  around  the  Louvre.  In  1815  he 
succeeded  the  Pons  Brothers,  embroiderers  to  the  Court,  and 
was  a  judge  in  the  tribune  of  commerce.  He  employed 
Lisbeth  Fischer,  who  was  one  of  his  embroiderers,  and  he 
rendered  some  service  to  that  old  maid.  Achille  Rivet  wor- 
shiped Louis-Philippe;  for  him  the  King  was  *' the  august 
representative  of  the  class  on  which  his  dynasty  was  founded." 
He  had  little  love  for  the  Poles,  who  *'  troubled  the  European 
equilibrium."  He  voluntarily  served  Cousin  Betty  in  the 
vengeance  her  jealousy  had  inspired  against  Wenceslas  Stein- 
bock  [Cousin  Betty,  w — Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Robert,  a  restaurateur  at  Paris,  near  Frascati's;  this  was 
the  place  chosen  at  the  beginning  of  1822  in  which  to  hold 
the  baptism  of  a  Royalist  newspaper,  "  le  Reveil "  ;  it  was  a 
triumphal  repast,  and  lasted  for  nine  hours.  Theodore  Gail- 
lard  and  Hector  Merlin  founded  the  sheet,  Nathan  and 
Lucien  de   Rubempre   assisted   at   the   feast,    together   with 

*  This  way,  which  was  an  extension  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli,  has  dis- 
appeared ;  it  used  to  run  from  the  Rue  de  Lavandidres-Sainte-Opportune 
to  the  Rue  des  Bourdoannis. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  455 

Martainville,  Auger,  Destains,  and  a  crowd  of  authors  who 
"at  that  time  were  fascinated  with  the  monarchy  and  religion." 
One  of  the  writers,  the  most  celebrated  in  romantic  litera- 
ture, said:  "We  have  had  a  fine  monarchical  and  religious 
jollification."  That  comment  appeared  in  the  next  day's 
"Miroir";  Lucien  was  supposed  to  be  the  traitor  who 
blabbed,  when,  in  fact,  it  was  given  out  by  the  good  ofiices  of  a 
bookseller,  who  was  an  invited  guest  [A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  iMT]. 

Rochefide,  Marquis  Arthur  de,  of  the  nobility  of  re- 
cent date ;  was  married  by  his  father's  directions  to  Beatrix 
de  Casteran,  in  1828;  she  belonged  to  the  ancient  nobility; 
his  father  hoped  to  see  him  gain  the  peerage,  which  he  himself 
had  been  unable  to- attain.  The  Comtesse  de  Montcornet  was 
the  intermediary  in  arranging  the  marraige.  Arthur  de 
Rochefide  had  served  in  the  Royal  Guards;  he  was  a  fine  man, 
and  of  real  worth ;  he  passed  much  of  his  time  at  the  toilet ; 
he  was  persuaded  to  wear  a  corset;  he  was  unpleasing  in  per- 
son, and  beside  this  he  adopted  the  ideas  and  foolishness  of 
the  rest  of  the  world ;  his  specialty  was  racing,  and  he 
"backed"  a  horse  journal.  A  deserted  husband,  he  com- 
plained without  becoming  ridiculous,  and  passed  as  "a  right 
good  fellow."  He  became  very  rich  by  his  father's  death 
and  by  that  of  his  eldest  sister,  who  was  married  to  the  Mar- 
quis d'Ajuda-Pinto  ;  he  inherited  a  splendid  mansion.  Rue 
d'Anjou-Saint-Honore,  in  which  he  seldom  slept  ot  ate,  very 
happy  at  not  being  in  subjection ;  so  he  was  satisfied  at  being 
deserted  by  his  wife,  of  whom  he  said  amongst  his  friends : 
"I  am  not  hooded."  For  a  long  time  Arthur  de  Roche- 
fide kept  Mme.  Schontz,  with  whom  he  finally  lived  in  full 
marital  relationship,  and  who  cared  for  him  as  if  "  he  had 
been  her  own  child  "  ;  and  also  for  her  lover's  legitimate  son. 
After  1840  she  married  du  Ronceret,  in  order  that  de 
Rochefide  should  go  back  to  his  wife.  He  gave  her  a  special 
disease  that  Mme.  Schontz,  in  despair  at   being  deserted  by 


456  COMPENDIUM 

him,  had  communicated  first  to  her  lover,  then  he  to  his  wife, 
and  she  also  to  Baron  Calyste  du  Guenic  [Beatrix,  _P].  In 
1838  Rochefide  assisted  at  the  inauguration  festival  given  by 
Josepha  in  her  mansion  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEv6que 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\, 

Rochefide,  Marquise  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the 
youngest  daughter  of  the  Marquise  de  Casteran,  nee  Beatrix- 
Maximilienne-Rose  DE  Casteran,  about  1808,  at  the  chateau 
de  Casteran,  department  of  the  Orne;  she  was  brought  up 
there,  and  married  the  Marquis  Arthur  de  Rochefide  in  1828. 
She  was  a  blonde,  thin,  a  vain  coquette,  a  woman  without 
either  heart  or  head;  she  was  a  Mme.  d'Espard,  but  less  intel- 
ligent. About  1832  she  deserted  her  husband  and  took  her 
flight  to  Italy  with  the  musician  Gennaro  Conti,  whom  she  had 
allured  from  her  friend.  Mile,  des  Touches;  after  this  she  in 
turn  left  him  to  be  courted  by  Calyste  du  Guenic;  she  met 
him  at  her  friend's  house  at  Guerande;  she  at  first  resisted 
the  young  man,  then  gave  herself  to  him  when  he  was  married. 
This  liaison  was  the  despair  of  Mme.  du  Guenic ;  it  ceased 
after  1840,  following  the  wily  schemes  put  on  foot  by  Abbe 
Brossette,  and  Mme.  de  Rochefide  rejoined  her  husband  in 
the  superb  mansion  on  the  Rue  d'Anjou-Saint-Honore;  but 
she  probably  retired  with  him  to  Nogent-sur-Marne  to  get  her 
health  restored,  which  had  been  compromised  by  the  reprisals 
taken  against  her  by  la  Palfi^rine,  and  whose  disease  she  also 
communicated  to  her  husband  and  Calyste  du  Guenic.  After 
this  reconciliation  she  lived  in  Paris,  Rue  de  Chartres-du- 
Roule,  near  Monceau  park.  By  her  husband  the  Marquise  de 
Rochefide  had  a  son,  who  for  a  long  time  she  abandoned  to 
the  care  of  Mme.  Schontz  [Beatrix,  J*— The  Secrets  of  the 
Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^.  In  1834,  before  Mme.  Felix  de 
Vandenesse,  who  was  smitten  by  Nathan  the  poet,  Marquise 
Charles  de  Vaudenesse,  her  sister-in-law.  Lady  Dudley,  Mile, 
des  Touches,  Marquise  d'Espard,  Mme.  MoVna  de  Saint- 
Hereen,  and  Mme.  de  Rochefide  gave  their  experience  of  love 


COMADIE   HUMAINE.  457 

and  marriage:  "'Love  is  paradise/ said  Lady  Dudley.  *It 
is  hell,'  cried  Mile,  des  Touches.  'Yes,  but  a  hell  with  love 
in  it,'  replied  Mme.  de  Rochefide.  'There  may  be  more 
satisfaction  in  suffering  than  in  an  easy  life.  Look  at  the 
martyrs!'"  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F].  Sarrasine's  history 
was  told  her  about  1830.  The  Marquise  de  Rochefide  knew 
the  Lantys,  at  whose  house  she  met  the  fantastical  Zambinella 
[Sarrasine,  ds,  IL].  About  the  middle  of  the  year  1836  or 
1837,  in  her  mansion  on  the  Rue  de  Chartres,  Mme.  de  Roche- 
fide heard  the  story  of  the  "Prince  of  Bohemia,"  as  recited 
by  Nathan ;  after  it  was  over  she  was  made  a  fool  of  by  la 
Palferine  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  'FF\ 

Rochegude,  Marquis  de,  aged  in  1821;  he  had  an  in- 
come of  six  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  at  that  time  off"ered 
a  coupe  to  Coralie,  who  had  the  pride  to  refuse  it,  as  "she 
wanted  an  artist  and  not  a  girl"  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  M.\  This  Rochegude  should  have  been  a  Roche- 
fide; there  was  probably  an  alteration  in  the  civic  status  which 
established  a  confusion  in  the  names  and  families,  which  was 
afterward  straightened  out. 

Rodolphe,  the  natural  son  of  a  refined  and  charming 
Parisian  woman  and  a  gentleman  of  Barban^on  who  died 
before  being  assured  of  his  existence  by  her  whom  he  loved. 
Rodolphe  was  a  fictitious  character  and  a  hero  in  "I'Ambitieux 
par  amour,"  a  novel  written  and  published  by  Albert  Savarus  in 
•Ma  Revue  de  I'Est,"  1834,  and  in  which,  under  this  name,  he 
is  supposed  to  narrate  his  own  adventures  [Albert  Savaron,/*]. 

Roger,  a  general,  deputy,  and  private  director  to  the 
ministry  of  war  in  1841 ;  a  comrade  of  Baron's  Hulot's  for 
more  than  twenty  years.  At  this  time  he  declared  that  his 
administrative  position  was  gravely  compromised  by  his 
asking  advancement  for  the  second-clerk  Marneffe,  whose 
advancement  was  quite  unmerited,  though  rendered  pos- 
sible by  the  dismissal  of  Coquet,  chief  of  the  bureau  [Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 


458  COMPENDIUM 

Rogron,  an  innkeeper  at  Provins  in  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  at  the  commencement  of  the  nine- 
teenth. He  was  once  a  carter;  he  married  the  daughter  of 
M.  Auffray's  first  marriage — he  was  a  grocer  at  Provins ;  on 
the  death  of  his  father-in-law  he  bought  the  house  and  business 
from  his  widow  for,  as  the  saying  is,  "a  crumb  of  bread" ;  he 
and  his  wife  lived  in  the  house  until  he  retired  from  business. 
He  then  had  an  income  of  two  thousand  francs,  as  shown  by 
renting  out  twenty-seven  pieces  of  land  and  the  interest  on 
the  amount  he  received  by  the  sale  of  the  inn,  which  was 
twenty  thousand  francs.  A  drunken  egoist,  he  became  miserly 
in  his  old  age;  he  ended  indeed  like  an  old  Swiss  innkeeper; 
he  carelessly  raised,  without  any  affection,  the  two  children 
his  wife  gave  him — Sylvie  and  Jerome-Denis.  He  died  in 
1822,  a  widower  [Pierrette,  -i]. 

Rogron,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  daughter  of  M. 
Auffray,  a  grocer  in  Provins,  by  his  first  marriage;  the  sister 
of  the  father  of  Mme.  Lorrain,  the  mother  of  Pierrette;  born 
in  1743;  ugly  enough;  married  when  sixteen  years  old;  she 
died  before  her  husband  [Pierrette,  i\ 

Rogron,  Sylvie,  eldest  daughter  of  the  foregoing;  born 
between  1780  and  1785,  at  Provins;  brought  up  in  the  country, 
and  sent  to  Paris  when  thirteen  years  old,  where  she  was 
made  an  apprentice  in  a  trading-house  on  the  Rue  Saint-Denis. 
When  twenty  years  old  she  was  second  assistant  at  the  Jul- 
liard's  ''Ver  Chinois,"  a  silk  mercery;  about  the  end  of 
1815,  with  her  own  and  brother's  savings,  she  bought  and 
founded  the  ^'  Soeur  de  Famille,"  one  of  a  number  of  similar 
retail  haberdashery  stores,  which  was  kept  by  Mme.  Guenee. 
Sylvie  and  Jerome-Denis,  who  were  partners  in  the  business, 
retired  to  Provins  in  1823  ;  there  they  resided  in  the  house  of 
their  father,  who  had  been  deceased  for  some  months ;  they 
received  their  cousin,  the  young  Pierrette  Lorrain,  orphaned 
of  both  father  and  mother,  who  was  of  a  sensitive  nature,  but 
was  treated  with  baseness  by  them.     Pierrette  died  after  a 


COMiDIE  HUMAINE.  459 

brutal  action  on  the  part  of  Sylvie,  a  jealous  old  maid,  sought 
for  on  account  of  her  dowry  by  Colonel  Gouraud  ;  she  thought 
she  had  been  dealt  treacherously  with  by  Pierrette  [Pierrette,  i]. 
Rogron,  Jerome-Denis,  two  years  younger  than  his  sister; 
like  her,  he  was  sent  to  Paris  by  his  father  and  entered  the 
house  of  the  Guepins,  haberdashers,  etc.,  Rue  Saint-Denis, 
at  the  sign  of  the  "  Trois  Quenouilles  "  ;  after  eighteen  years' 
service  he  was  head  clerk.  Afterward  he  became  Sylvie's 
partner  and  founded  the  '*  Soeur  de  Famille  " ;  with  her  he 
retired  to  Provins  in  1823.  Jerome-Denis  Rogron  was  a  mean 
man  of  limited  intelligence,  and  was  entirely  controlled  by 
his  sister,  who  had  "good  sense  and  a  genius  for  selling." 
He  allowed  her  to  persecute  Pierrette  Lorrain,  but,  called 
before  the  court  at  Provins  as  being  responsible  for  the  death 
of  that  young  girl,  he  was  acquitted.  Rogron,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Vinet,  a  barrister,  became  one  of  those  who 
opposed  the  government  of  Charles  X.  After  1830  he  was 
appointed  receiver-general ;  the  old  Liberal,  who  came  of  the 
people,  said  then  that  ''Louis-Philippe  was  not  a  real  king  if 
he  was  made  by  the  nobles."  In  1828,  although  ugly  and 
unintelligent,  he  married  the  handsome  Bathilde  de  Charge- 
boeuf,  who  inspired  in  him  an  old  man's  senseless  love  [Pier- 
rette, i\ 

Rogron,  Madame  Denis,  nee  Bathilde  de  Chargebceuf, 
about  1803;  one  of  the  handsomest  young  women  inTroyes; 
she  was  poor,  noble,  and  ambitious,  and  her  relation,  Vinet, 
the  barrister,  made  her  "a  little  Catherine  de  Medicis "  ; 
through  him  she  married  Denis  Rogron.  Some  years  after 
her  marriage  she  hoped  to  become  a  widow,  then  after  a  brief 
space  of  time  she  would  have  married  the  Marquis  de  Mon- 
triveau,  a  peer  of  France,  who  had  become  the  commander 
of  the  department  in  which  Rogron  was  a  collector  [Pier- 
rette, ^]. 

Roguin,  born  in  1761;  for  twenty-five  years  he  was  a 
notary  in  Paris ;  he  was  a  tall,  stout  man,  with  black  hair,  an 


460  COMPENDIUM 

open  countenance,  and  had  the  catarrh.  This  infirmity  was 
his  downfall :  he  married  the  only  daughter  of  Chevrel  the 
banker,  and  was  scorned  by  his  wife,  who  looked  upon  him 
with  disgust,  and  fell ;  on  his  side  he  had  mistresses  whom 
he  bought ;  he  kept  another  household  in  the  city  and  was 
ruined  by  Sarah  van  Gobseck,  called  the  Handsome  Dutch- 
woman, Esther's  mother,  of  whom  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance about  1815.  In  1818-19,  Roguin,  seriously  com- 
promised by  unlucky  speculations  and  his  dissipations,  dis- 
appeared from  Paris  and  ruined  Guillaume  Grandet,  Cesar 
Birotteau,  and  Mesdames  Descoings  and  Bridau  [Cesar  Bi- 
rotteau,  O — Eugenie  Grandet,  JE7— A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, J\  Roguin  had  one  legitimate  daughter  by  his  wife ; 
she  was  married  to  the  president  of  the  court  at  Provins ;  this 
was  she  who  was  called  in  that  town  '*the  handsome  Madame 
Tiphaine  "  [Pierrette,  %\.  In  1816  he  paid  his  respects  to  the 
father  and  mother  of  Ginevra  di  Piombo,  when  he  served 
them  with  a  summons  on  behalf  of  that  young  woman,  who 
married  Luigi  Porta,  the  enemy  of  her  family  [The  Ven- 
detta, /].  a-^  si-r /r.f  i, (A '•  f  -^  Mi  '^'-r^  (U-^o- K^'. C .  tJ\M-  i<.h.i:' 
Roguin,  Madame,  nie  Chevrel,  between  1770  and  1780; 
the  only  daughter  of  Chevrel  the  banker;  wife  of  the  foregoing, 
cousin  of  Mme.  Guillaume  of  the  *'Cat  and  Racket";  fifteen 
years  younger  than  her  cousin.  She  favored  Augustine's  love 
for  the  painter  Sommervieux;  she  was  a  pretty  coquette;  for 
a  long  time  she  was  the  banker  Tillet's  mistress.  December 
17,  1818,  with  her  husband,  she  was  a  guest  at  the  famous 
ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau.  At  Nogent-sur-Marne  she 
owned  a  country  house  in  which  she  lived  with  her  lover  after 
Roguin's  flight  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat 
and  Racket,  t — Pierrette,  ^].  In  1815  Caroline  Crochard, 
then  an  embroiderer,  did  some  work  for  Mme.  Roguin,  who 
made  her  wait  for  her  money  [A  Second  Home,  ^^  In  1834 
-35  Mme.  Rougin,  then  more  than  fifty  years  old,  still  re- 
tained her  pretensions  and  dominated   du  Tillet,  who  was 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  461 

married  to  the  charming  Marie-Eugenie  de  Granville  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Roguin,  Mathilde-Melanie.     See  Tiphaine,  Madame. 

Romette,  La.     See  Paccard,  Jeromette. 

Ronceret,  Du,  president  of  the  court  at  Alen^on  under 
the  Restoration;  he  was  a  tall,  thin,  weak  man,  with  a  faded 
face,  gray  and  chestnut  hair,  vari-colored  eyes,  and  tight  lips. 
Not  receiving  a  cordial  welcome  from  the  nobility  he  turned 
to  the  middle-classes;  in  the  suit  against  Victurnien  d'Esgrig- 
non,  accused  of  forgery,  he  took  part  against  that  young  man ; 
he  would  like  to  have  acted  in  the  preliminary  trial,  but  a 
judgment  of  acquittal  was  rendered  in  his  absence.  M.  du 
Ronceret  schemed  like  a  Machiavel  in  trying  to  obtain  the 
hand  of  a  rich  heiress  of  the  town.  Mile.  Blandureau,  for  his 
son  Fabien ;  she  was  also  sought  by  Judge  Blondet  for  his  son 
Joseph;  in  the  struggle  the,  judge  beat  out  his  chief  [The 
Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  AA\  M.  du  Ronceret  died 
in  1837,  the  president  of  the  Royal  Court  at  Caen.  The  du 
Roncerets  were  ennobled  under  Louis  XV.,  having  a  coat-of- 
arms  bearing  the  word  Servir  for  a  motto  and  a  squire's 
helmet  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Ronceret,  Madame  du,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  a  tall 
creature,  solemn  and  ill-formed,  who  dressed  out  in  the  most 
absurd  styles,  in  the  liveliest  colors;  she  never  went  to  a  ball 
without  ornamenting  her  head  with  the  turban,  then  so  dear 
to  Englishwomen.  Mme.  du  Ronceret  received  each  Sunday, 
and  every  three  months  gave  a  great  dinner  of  three  courses, 
which  was  *' drummed  up"  in  Alengon;  at  what  time  the  pres- 
ident would  try  to  struggle,  with  much  avarice,  against  M. 
du  Bousquier's  elegance.  In  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon's  case, 
Mme.  du  Ronceret,  incited  thereto  by  her  husband,  enlisted 
the  substitute-judge  Sauvages  against  the  young  noble  [The 
Jealousies  of  a  Country  Town,  A-A^ 

Ronceret  or  Duronceret,  Fabien-Felicien  du,  son  of 
the  foregoing;  born  about  1802;  raised  at  Alengon ;  in  that 


462  COMPENDIUM 

town  he  was  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon's  companion,  whom  he 
encouraged  in  his  evil  dispositions  at  M.  du  Bousquier's  in- 
stigation [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  acC\.  At  one  time 
a  judge  at  Alen^on,  he  was  dismissed  after  the  death  of  his  father 
and  went  to  Paris  in  1838,  where  he  noisily  pushed  himself 
forward.  He  began  in  Bohemia,  where  he  was  known  by  the 
name  of  ''  the  heir,"  on  account  of  some  of  his  premeditated 
prodigalities.  After  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  journalist 
Couture,  he  was  introduced  to  Mme.  Schontz,  a  stylish  lorette ; 
he  succeeded  in  leading  a  luxurious  life,  on  the  Rue  Blanche, 
and  commenced  to  make  his  fortune  as  the  vice-president  of 
a  horticultural  society :  after  the  opening  session,  at  which  he 
delivered  a  discourse  written  by  Lousteau,  for  which  he  paid 
him  five  hundred  francs,  and  being  particularly  noticed  by 
reason  of  wearing  a  flower  which  had  been  given  him  by 
Judge  Blondet  (and  which  he  said  he  himself  had  grown),  he 
obtained  the  decoration.  Soon  after  he  married  Mme. 
Schontz,  a  courtesan  who  aspired  to  become  a  respectable 
middle-class  woman ;  on  her  account  Ronceret  became  presi- 
dent of  a  court  and  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor 
[Beatrix,  JP],  About  1844,  while  buying  a  shawl  for  Mme. 
du  Ronceret  at  M.  Fritot's  store,  accompanied  by  Bixiou,  he 
assisted  in  the  comedy  of  the  sale  of  the  "  Selim  "  shawl  to 
Mrs.  Noswell  [Gaudissart  II.,  ri\. 

Ronceret,  Madame  Fabien  du,  nee  Josephine  Schiltz, 
1805  ;  wife  of  the  foregoing  ;  the  daughter  of  a  colbnel  of  the 
Empire  ;  orphaned  of  father  and  mother ;  at  nine  years  of  age, 
in  1814,  she  was  placed  in  Saint-Denis  by  Napoleon,  and 
remained  in  that  place  of  learning  as  assistant  mistress  until 
1827;  at  that  time  Josephine  Schiltz,  who  was  the  Empress' 
goddaughter,  started  on  the  adventurous  life  of  a  courtesan, 
following  the  example  of  some  of  her  companions.  She  sub- 
stituted on  for  //  in  her  paternal  name,  and  become  Mme. 
Schontz.  We  also  know  her  under  the  pseudonym  of  the 
*' little  Aur^lie."      Bright,  sprightly,   intelligent,  and  well- 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  463 

informed,  after  having  sacrificed  to  true  love,  after  having 
known  "  writers,  who  were  poor,  but  dishonest,"  after  having 
tried  a  "  few  wealthy  simpletons,"  she  was  met  in  her  hour  of 
need,  at  Valentino-Musard,*  by  Arthur  de  Rochefide,  for 
whom  she  took  a  fancy  \  his  wife  had  left  him  for  two  years, 
and  so  he  contracted  a  "liberal  union  "  with  her.  This  false 
household  lasted  until  Josephine  Schiltz  was  married  by 
Fabien  du  Ronceret.  For  revenge  at  being  abandoned  by 
the  Marquis  de  Rochefide  she  gave  him  a  special  disease 
which  she  had  contracted  from  Fabien  du  Ronceret, (?)  and 
which  he  in  turn  gave  to  his  wife,  and  she  to  Calyste  du 
Guenic.  During  her  life  of  gayety  she  had  as  rivals : 
Suzanne  de  Val-Noble,  Fanny  Beaupre,  Mariette,  Antonia, 
and  Florine;  she  had  relations  with  Nathan,  Claud  Vignon 
(from  whom  she  most  likely  derived  her  critical  spirit),  Bixiou, 
Leon  de  Lora,  Victor  de  Vernisset,  La  Palferine,  Gobenheim, 
and  Vermantou,  the  cynical  philosopher,  etc.  She  even 
hoped  to  be  able  to  give  her  hand  to  some  one  of  them.  In 
1836  she  resided  on  the  Rue  Flechier  and  was  Lousteau's 
mistress,  whom  she  tried  to  get  married  to  Felicie  Cardot, 
the  notary's  daughter  ;  she  afterward  belonged  to  Stidmann. 
In  1838  she  assisted  at  the  inauguration  fete  given  by  Josepha 
in  her  mansion  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-l'Eveque ;  she  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  in  1840,  at  a  "  first 
performance"  at  the  Ambigu ;  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye  was 
then  living  in  marital  relationship  with  Etienne  Lousteau. 
Josephine  Schiltz  ended  as  *'  Madame  la  Presidente  du  Ron- 
ceret "  [Beatrix,  J*-^— Muse  of  the  Department,  CC — Cousin 
Betty,  w — The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vb\. 

Ronquerolles,  Marquis  de,  brother  of  Mme.  de  Serizy, 
uncle  of  Comtesse  Laginska ;  one  of  The  Thirteen,  and  one 
of  the  cleverest  diplomats  in  Louis-Philippe's  government ', 
after  Talleyrand,  the  most  cunning  ambassador  of  them  all. 

*  The  Nouveau  Cirque  now  occupies  the  site,  on  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6, 
formerly  filled  by  the  Valentino. 


464  COMPENDIUM 

He  served  de  Marsay  most  admirably  while  a  minister  at  the 
Court,  and  was  sent  to  Russia,  1838,  on  a  secret  mission. 
He  was  without  direct  heirs,  having  lost  his  two  children  dur- 
ing the  cholera  visitation  of  1832.  He  had  been  a  deputy  of 
the  Left  Centre,  under  the  Restoration,  for  the  department  of 
Bourgogne  (Burgundy),  where  he  owned  a  forest  and  castle 
adjoining  the  Aigues,  in  Blangy  commune.  Soudry  said  in 
reference  to  Gaubertin,  the  steward  who  was  chastised  by 
Comte  de  Montcornet:  *' Patience!  we  have  Messrs.  de 
Soulanges  and  de  Ronquerolles  for  us"  [The  Imaginary 
Mistress,  ft — The  Peasantry,  22 — Ursule  Mirouet,  JBT].  M. 
de  Ronquerolles  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Marquis 
d'Aiglemont  and  thee'd  and  thou'd  him  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  H\  He  was  the  only  one  to  penetrate  the  secret  of  de 
Marsay's  first  love  ;  and  had  the  name  of  being  "  Charlotte's  " 
husband  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\.  In  1820,  at  a  ball 
given  by  the  Duchesse  de  Berry,  at  the  Elysee-Bourbon, 
Ronquerolles  provoked  Auguste  de  Maulincour  to  a  duel,  in- 
cited thereto  by  Ferragus  (Bourignard),  who  had  complained 
of  that  man.  Also,  as  one  of  The  Thirteen,  Ronquerolles, 
with  de  Marsay,  assisted  Montriveau  to  carry  off  the  Duchesse 
de  Langeais  from  a  lonely  Carmellite  convent,  in  which  she 
had  taken  refuge  [The  Thirteen,  jgj5].  He  was  M.  de 
Rh^tore's  second  in  a  duel,  1839,  with  the  sculptor  Dorlange- 
Sallenauve,  in  reference  to  Marie  Gaston  [The  Deputy  for 
ArciB,  DD\ 

Rx)salie,  a  stout,  fresh-complexioned  damsel ;  Mme.  de 
Merret's  chambermaid,  at  Vendome ;  after  the  death  of  her 
mistress  she  was  Mme.  Lepas'  servant,  an  innkeeper  in  that 
town  ;  she  narrated  to  Horace  Bianchon  the  drama  of  the 
Great  Bret^che  and  the  unhappiness  of  the  Merrets  [Another 
Study  of  Woman,  ?— The  Great  Breteche,  l\ 

Rosalie,  Mme.  Moreau's  chambermaid,  at  Presles,  1822 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s]. 

Rose,  a  chambermaid  to  Mile.  Armande-Louise-Marie  de 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  465 

Chaulieu,  1823,  at  the  time  when  that  young  lady  left  the 
Carmellites  at  Blois  to  take  up  her  abode  in  the  paternal 
mansion,  Boulevard  des  Invalides,  Paris  [Letters  of  Two 
Brides,  v\ 

Rosina,  an  Italian  woman  of  Messina ;  the  wife  of  a  Pied- 
montese  gentleman,  a  captain  in  the  French  army,  under  the 
Empire ;  the  mistress  of  her  husband's  colonel ;  she  perished 
with  her  lover  near  Beresina,  181 2  ;  her  husband  became  sud- 
denly jealous,  and  set  on  fire  the  hut  in  which  she  was  sleep- 
ing with  the  colonel  [Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\. 

Roubaud,  born  about  1803;  a  doctor  in  the  faculty  of 
Paris,  a  pupil  of  Desplein's,  who  practiced  medicine  at 
Montegnac,  under  Louis-Philippe  ;  a  little,  light-complexioned 
man,  with  a  listless  appearance,  but  whose  gray  eyes  betrayed 
the  profundity  of  the  physiologist  and  the  tenacity  of  a 
studious  man.  Roubaud  was  introduced  to  Mme.  Graslin 
by  Cure  Bonnet,  who  was  in  despair  at  his  indifference  to 
religion.  The  young  doctor  attended,  admired,  and  secretly 
loved  that  celebrated  woman  of  Limousin ;  he  subsequently 
became  a  Catholic,  after  witnessing  the  saintly  death  of  Mme. 
Graslin.  While  she  lay  dying  she  charged  him  to  become  the 
first  physician  in  a  hospital  founded  by  her  near  Montegnac 
[The  Country  Parson,  J^]. 

Rouget,  Doctor,  a  physician  at  Issoudun,  under  Louis 
XVL  and  the  Republic;  born  in  1737;  died  in  1805;  he 
married  the  handsomest  girl  in  the  town  and  made  her, 
according  to  history,  very  unhappy.  He  had  two  children 
by  her :  a  son,  Jean-Jacques,  and,  ten  years  later,  a  daughter, 
Agathe,  who  became  Mme.  Bridau,  whose  birth  caused  trouble 
between  himself  and  his  intimate  friend,  the  substitute-judge 
Lousteau,  to  whom  the  doctor  attributed  the  birth  of  the  child  ; 
he  was  most  likely  in  fault  in  placing  its  paternity  on  Lousteau. 
Both  these  men  were  also  looked  upon  as  being  Maxence 
Gilet's  father,  but  he  was  really  the  son  of  an  officer  of 
dragoons  in  garrison  at  Bourges.  Dr.  Rouget,  who  passed 
30 


466  COMPENDIUM 

for  being  a  terribly  vindictive  man,  was  egotistic  and  mali- 
cious. He  cared  very  little  for  his  daughter,  whom  he  exe- 
crated. After  the  death  of  his  wife  and  his  father-  and 
mother-in-law  he  became  wealthy,  and  led  a  life  of  debauch- 
ery, but  a  seeming  regular  one  and  exempt  from  scandal.  In 
1799,  smitten  by  the  beauty  of  the  little  "  Rabouilleuse," 
Flore  Brazier,  he  took  her  to  his  house,  where  she  remained 
and  became  his  mistress;  afterward  she  became  the  same  to 
his  son  Jean-Jacques,  ending  as  Mme.  Philippe  ^feridau,  Com- 
tesse  de  Brambourg  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e7]. 

Rouget,  Madame,  nee  Descoings,  wife  of  the  foregoing, 
daughter  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  miserly  of  the  linen  com- 
mission merchants  at  Issoudun  ;  the  eldest  sister  of  the  grocer 
Descoings,  who  married  Bixiou's  widow,  and  died  on  the 
scaffold  with  Andre  Chenier,  July  25,  1794.  In  spite  of  her 
beauty,  so  famous  in  her  youth,  when  she  was  rharried  she  was 
undoubtedly  ill-treated  by  Dr.  Rouget,  who  indeed  accused 
her  of,  and  believed  it  to  be  true,  sinning  in  allowing  the 
intimacy  of  Lousteau.  Mme.  Rouget,  deprived  of  the  daugh- 
ter whom  she  loved,  and  receiving  but  little  affection  from  her 
son,  rapidly  failed,  dying  at  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1799,  leaving  her  husband  without  regret;  he  had  just 
"banked"  on  her  premature  death  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, ftT]. 

Rouget,  Jean- Jacques,  born  at  Issoudun  in  1768;  the  son 
of  the  foregoing;  brother  of  Mme.  Bridau  and  ten  years  her 
senior ;  he  had  but  little  intelligence  ;  he  was  foolishly  smitten 
by  Flore  Brazier,  whom  he  had  known  as  a  child  in  his 
father's  house ;  he  made  that  young  woman  his  servant-mistress 
on  the  death  of  the  doctor,  and  suffered  when  she  installed 
her  lover,  Maxence  Gilet,  in  his  house ;  he  ended  by  marrying 
her  in  1823,  at  the  instigation  of  his  nephew,  Philippe  Bridau, 
who  afterward  took  him  to  Paris,  where  he  skillfully  led  up 
to  the  speedy  death  of  the  old  man  by  launching  him  into 
debauchery  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\     After  J.  J. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  467 

Rouget*!5  decease  the  La  Baudrayes,  of  Sancerre,  bought  a 
part  of  his  furniture  and  took  it  from  Issoudun  to  Anzy,  their 
castle,  which  once  belonged  to  the  Cadignans  [Muse  of  the 
Department,  CC\ 

Rouget,  Madame  Jean-Jacques.  See  Bridau,  Madame 
Philippe. 

Rousse,  La,  the  significant  nickname  given  Mme.  Prelard. 
See  the  last  name. 

Rousseau  conducted  a  public  conveyance,  which  was  used 
to  transport  the  taxes  to  Caen  ;  it  was  attacked  and  pillaged 
by  the  '*  Brigands,"  in  May,  1809,  in  the  Chesnay  woods, 
some  distance  from  Mortagne,  Orne.  Rousseau  was  thought 
to  be  one  of  the  accomplices  of  his  assailants  \  he  was  impli- 
cated in  the  trial  that  followed  that  affair,  but  was  acquitted 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Roustan,  Mameluk,  in  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  service. 
He  accompanied  his  master  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Jena, 
which  was  so  disastrous  to  the  Germans,  October  13,  1806, 
when  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne  and  M.  de  Chargeboeuf  saw 
him  hold  the  Emperor's  horse  while  he  dismounted,  at  the 
time  when  they  had  gone  thither  from  France  expressly  to 
implore  Napoleon's  pardon  for  the  Simeuses  and  Hauteserres, 
who  had  been  convicted  as  accomplices  in  the  abduction  of 
Senator  Malin  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Rouville,  De.     See  Leseigneur,  Madame. 

Rouvre,  Marquis  du,  Clementine  Laginska's  father;  he 
dissipated  a  considerable  fortune,  which  he  received  when  he 
married  a  demoiselle  de  Ronquerolles.  This  fortune  was 
partly  devoured  by  Florine,  ''one  of  the  most  charming  ac- 
tresses in  Paris"  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  li\.  M.  du  Rouvre 
was  the  brother-in-law  of  Comte  de  Serizy,  who,  like  himself, 
had  married  a  Ronquerolles.  A  marquis  under  the  old  order 
of  things,  M.  du  Rouvre  was  created  a  count  and  made  cham- 
berlain by  the  Emperor  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\.  In  1829  M.  du 
Rouvre  was  ruined,  and  lived  at  Nemours ;  near  that  town  he 


468  COMPENDIUM 

had  a  castle,  which  he  sold  to  Minoret-Levrault  on  disastrous 
terms  [Ursule  Mirouet,  JEL\. 

Rouvre,  Chevalier  du,  youngest  brother  of  the  Marquis 
du  Rouvre;  a  fantastical  character,  an  old  bachelor,  become 
rich  by  trading  in  lands  and  houses,  and  who  left  his  fortune 
to  his  niece,  Clementine  Laginska  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  li 
— Ursule  Mirouet,  JEf]. 

Rouzeau,  a  printer  at  AngoulSme,  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury ;  the  predecessor  and  former  master  of  Jerome-Nicolas 
S^chard  [Lost  Illusions,  JV]. 

Rubempre,  Lucien  Chardon  de,  born  in  1800,  at  An- 
gouldme;  the  son  of  an  army  surgeon,  during  the  Republic, 
who  became  a  druggist  in  that  town,  and  Mile,  de  Rubempre, 
his  legitimate  wife,  the  descendant  of  a  very  noble  family. 
A  journalist,  poet,  romancist,  the  author  of  ''Marguerites,"  a 
collection  of  sonnets,  and  ''The  Archer  of  Charles  IX.,"  a 
romantic   history.     He  at    one  time  shone  in   the  drawing- 
rooms  of  Mme.    de   Bargeton,  nee  Marie-Louise   Anais   de 
Negrepelisse,  who  was  smitten  by  him ;  she  drew  him  after 
her  to  Paris,  and  there  abandoned  him  at  her  cousin  Mme. 
d'Espard's  instigation.     He  was  intimate  with  the  members 
of  the  Cenacle,  Rue  des  Quatre-Vents,    and   particularly  so 
with  d'Arthez;  on  the  other  side  he  made  Etienne  Lousteau's 
acquaintance,  who  revealed  to  him  the  ups  and  downs  of  a 
literary  life;    he  also  introduced  him  to  the  bookseller-pub- 
lisher Dauriat,  and  conducted  him  to  a  first  performance  at 
the  Panorama-Dramatique,  where  the  poet  saw  the  charming 
Coralie.     She  was  smitten  with  him  at  first  sight,  and  he  re- 
mained   her   lover   until    the   death   of  the  actress  in   1822. 
Launched  by  Lousteau  into  Liberal  journalism,  Lucien  went 
over  to  the  Royalist  camp,  making  his  debut  in  the  "  Reveil," 
an  Ultra  organ,  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  from  the  King  a 
patent  which  would    give  him    his  mother's  name.     At  the 
same  time  he  frequented  aristocratic  society  and  ruined  his 
mistress.     He  was  wounded  in  a  duel  he  fought  with  Michel 


COM^JDTE   HUMAINE  469 

Chrestien,  which  had  been  provoked  by  his  having  "  slashed" 
in   the    ^'Reveil"   a  very  splendid    book  written  by  Daniel 
d'Arthez.     Coralie  died,  and  he,  without  any  means,  left  for 
Angoul§me,   on    foot,  with   twenty  francs  that   Berenice,  the 
cousin  and  servant  of  his  mistress,  had  earned  from  chance 
lovers  she  had  picked  up  on  the  street.     He  nearly  died  of 
fatigue  and  chagrin  after  he  reached  his  native  town ;  he  there 
met  Mme.  de  Bargeton,  who  had  become  the  wife  of  Comte 
Sixte  du  Chatelet,    prefect  of  Charente  and  a  councilor  of 
State.    At  first  he  was  welcomed  by  an  enthusiastic  article  in  a 
local  paper  and  by  a  serenade  given  by  some  young  students ; 
but  he  suddenly  left  AngoulSme  with  thoughts  of  suicide,  in 
despair  at  having  brought  ruin  upon  his  brother-in-law,  David 
Sechard.     On  his  way  he  met  Canon  Carlos  Herrera  (Jacques 
CoUin-Vautrin),  who  took  him  to  Paris  and  charged  himself 
with  his  future.     In  1824,  at  a  matinee  in  the  Porte-Saint- 
Martin  theatre,  Rubempre  saw  and  met  Esther  van  Gobseck, 
called  la  Torpille ;    the  poet  and   the   prostitute  were  each 
mutually  smitten  with  a  crazy  passion  for  each  other.     Shortly 
afterward  they  risked  appearing  at  the  last  masked  opera-bali 
in  the  winter  of  1824;  they  would  have  compromised  their 
security  and  happiness  but   for  the  intervention  of  Jacques 
Collin   (called    Vautrin) ;    but    Lucien    provoked    malevolent 
curiosity,  and    was   only  able    to   escape   the  crowd  by  the 
promise  of  a  supper  at  Lointier's.*     Lucien's  life  of  ambition 
and  pleasure — he  aspired  to  become  Grandlieu's  son-in-law, 
was  welcomed  by  the  Rabourdins,  the  protector  of  Savinien 
de  Portenduere,  the  lover  of  Mesdames  de  Maufrigneuse  and 
de  Serizy,  and  beloved  by  Lydie  Peyrade — terminated  at  the 
Conciergerie,  where  he  was  detained  as  the  assassin  or  an 
accomplice  in  the  death  of  Esther  and  of  having  stolen  from 
her,  both  crimes  of  which  he  was  innocent ;  he  hung  himself 
in  that  prison.  May  15,  1830  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at 

*  Lointier's  restaurant,  situated  on  the   Rue  Richelieu,  was  opposite 
the  Rue  de  la  Bourse;  it  was  all  the  style  about  1846. 


470  COMPENDIUM 

Paris,  IML — Lost  Illusions,  If — Les  Employes,  CC — Ursule 
Mirouet,  JB. — The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z\  Lucien  de 
Rubempre  lived  in  Paris  successively  :  at  the  hotel  du  Gaillard- 
Bois,  Rue  de  I'Echelle,  a  chamber  in  the  Latin  quarter,  the 
hotel  and  street  de  Cluny,*  a  lodging  on  the  Rue  Chariot, 
another  one  on  the  Rue  de  la  Lune  (in  company  with  Coralie), 
a  little  suite  of  rooms.  Rue  Cassette  (with  Jacques  Collin), 
whom  he  followed  thither,  and  some  months  in  one  or  other 
of  the  two  residences  on  the  Quai  Malaquais  and  the  Rue 
Taitbout  (the  former  dwellings  of  Beaudenord  and  Caroline 
de  Bellefeuille).  He  was  buried  in  Pere-Lachaise  under  a  mag- 
nificent monument,  where  also  rest  the  remains  of  Esther  van 
Gobseck  and  in  which  a  place  was  reserved  for  Jacques  Collin 
[Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^,  etc.].  There  is  a  series  of  fine  and 
piquant  articles,  published  under  the  title  of  ^'  les  Passants  de 
Paris,"  which  tell  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre. 

Ruffard,  called  Arrachelaine,  a  thief,  and  at  the  same  time 
an  agent  of  Bibi-Lupin,  the  chief  of  the  police  of  safety, 
1830.  The  accomplice,  with  Godet,  of  Danneport,  called  la 
Pouraille,  who  assassinated  Crottat  about  this  time  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  ;^]. 

Ruffin,  born  in  1815,  was  Francis  Graslin's  tutor,  during 
a  part  of  1840.  Ruffin  had  a  vocation  for  teaching  and  pos- 
sessed vast  knowledge ;  he  had  an  excessively  sensitive  spirit, 
**  which  prevented  his  using  the  necessary  severity  to  govern 
a  child  "  ;  he  was  of  an  agreeable  figure,  patient  and  religious, 
and  was  sent  to  Mme.  Graslin,  of  his  diocese,  by  Archbishop 
Dutheil,  and  for  nine  months  had  the  direction  of  the  young 
man  who  had  been  confided  to  his  care  [The  Country  Par- 
son, jP]. 

Rusticoli.  See  La  Palferine,  Charles-Edouard  Rusticoli 
de. 

*  This  is  now  the  "  Grand  hStel  de  Flandre  et  hdtel  de  Cluny,"  No.  8 
Rue  Victor-Cousin. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE,  471 


s 


Sabatier,  a  police  agent.  Corentin  regretted  that  he  did 
not  have  his  assistance  in  his  inquiries  and  search,  which  he 
made  with  Peyrade,  at  Gondreville  in  1803  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff\ 

Sabatier,  Madame,  born  in  1809.  She  once  sold  slippers 
in  the  galleries  of  the  Palais  de  Justice,  Paris ;  the  widow  of  a 
husband  who  killed  himself  with  excessive  drinking ;  she  be- 
came a  sick-nurse ;  she  remarried  ;  her  second  husband  was  a 
man  whom  she  had  attended  and  cured  of  a  disease  in  the 
urinary  passages,  "the  lurinary  guts,"  according  to  Mme. 
Cibot,  and  had  a  *'fine  child"  by  him.  She  resided  on  the 
Rue  Barre-du-Bec*  Mme.  Bordevin,  her  relative,  a  butcher, 
was  the  child's  godmother  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Sagredo,  a  Venetian  senator,  born  in  1730;  very  wealthy; 
the  husband  of  Bianca  Vendramini ;  he  was  strangled  by 
Facino  Cane,  who  was  surprised  by  him,  while  Cane  was  con- 
versing of  love  with  Bianca,  though  quite  innocently  [Facino 
Cane,  /c]. 

Sagredo,  Bianca,  nee  Vendramini,  about  1742;  wife  of 
the  foregoing ;  in  her  husband's  eyes  she  appeared  in  fault  in 
1760,  seeming  to  have  illicit  relations  with  Facino  Cane;  she 
would  not  follow  her  platonic  lover  from  Venice  after  the 
death  of  her  husband  [Facino  Cane,  A?]. 

Saillard,  a  very  mediocre  clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance, 
during  the  reigns  of  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X.  He  was 
at  one  time  a  bookkeeper  in  the  Treasury,  where,  so  we  be- 
lieve, he  succeeded  Poiret  senior;  he  was  later  appointed  cen- 
tral cashier,  and  held  that  position  for  a  long  time.  Saillard 
married  Mile.  Bidault,  a  furniture  dealer,  whose  place  was 

*  Part  of  the  Rue  du  Temple,  between  the  Rues  la  Verreiie  and  Saint- 
Merry. 


472  COMPENDIUM 

under  the  *' pillars"  of  the  Paris  markets;  she  was  the  niece 
of  a  bill-discounter  on  the  Rue  Greneta.  By  her  he  had  one 
daughter,  Elisabeth,  who  became  Mme.  Isidore  Baudoyer; 
he  owned  an  old  hotel  in  the  Place  Royal ;  he  lived  there  in 
common  with  the  Isidore  Baudoyers ;  during  the  July  govern- 
ment he  was  mayor  of  his  arrondissement  and  received  his  old 
comrades  of  the  bureau,  the  Minards  and  Thuilliers  [Les  Em- 
ployes, CC — The  Middle  Classes,  ee\.  Note:  Saillard  did 
not  immediately  succeed  Poiret  senior  as  an  employ^  in  the 
Bureau  of  Finance. 

Saillard,  Madame,  nee  Bidault,  in  1767  ;  wife  of  the  fore- 
going; niece  of  the  bill-discounter  nicknamed  Gigonnet ;  was 
the  eldest  in  the  family  of  the  Place  Royal,  and,  more  than 
all,  counseled  her  husband ;  she  raised  her  daughter  Elisabeth 
very  strictly,  she  who  later  became  Mme.  Isidore  Baudoyer 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Sain,  with  Augustin,  held  '*the  sceptre  of  the  miniature 
painters  under  the  Empire."  In  1809,  before  the  Wagram 
campaign,  he  painted  a  miniature  of  Montcornet,  then  young 
and  beautiful ;  this  painting  passed  from  the  hands  of  the 
future  marshal's  mistress  into  those  of  their  daughter,  Mme. 
Crevel  (the  once  Mme.  Marneffe)  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Saint-Denis,  De,  one  of  the  names  assumed  by  the  police- 
spy  Corentin  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  T^  Zi\ 

Saint-Esteve,  De,  Jacques  Collin's  name,  when  he 
became  chief  of  the  police  of  safety. 

Saint-Esteve,  Madame  de;  the  name  assumed  in  com- 
mon by  Mesdames  Jacqueline  Collin  and  Nourrisson. 

Saint- Foudrille,  De,  an  *' illustrious  scientist,"  who 
lived  in  Paris,  and  without  a  doubt  in  the  Saint-Jacques 
quarter;  at  least  about  1840,  the  time  when  Thuillier  desired 
to  make  his  acquaintance  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Saint-Foudrille,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing; 
about  1840  she  received  a  visit  from  the  Thuilliers,  with 
«  much  impressment  "  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 


COMkDIE  HUMAINE,  473 

Saint-Georges,  Chevalier  de,  i  745-1801 ;  of  a  tall,  fine 
figure ;  the  son  of  a  farmer-general ;  captain  in  the  Due 
d'Orleans'  Guard ;  he  served  with  distinction  under  Dumouriez; 
in  1794  he  was  arrested  as  a  suspect,  but  was  liberated  after 
Thermidor  9 ;  he  was  brilliant  in  argument,  as  well  as  in 
music  and  as  a  writer.  Chevalier  de  Saint-Georges  was  sup- 
plied with  cloth  from  the  ''Cat  and  Racket,"  Rue  Saint- 
Denis,  but  was  a  bad  customer :  M,  Guillaume  obtained  a 
judgment  of  the  consuls  against  him  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat 
and  Racket,  t\  Some  time  after  he  was  popularized  by  a 
comedy-vaudeville  of  Roger  de  Beauvoir's,  which  was  given 
at  the  Varietes,  under  Louis-Philippe;  the  title  role  was 
interpreted  by  Lafont*  the  comedian. 

Saint-Germain,  De,  one  of  the  names  assumed  by  the 
police-spy  Peyrade. 

Saint-Hereen,  Comte  de,  MoVnad'Aiglemont's  husband. 
He  was  heir  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  French  families. 
With  his  wife  and  mother-in-law  he  resided  in  a  mansion 
belonging  to  him,  situated  on  the  Rue  Plumet,t  near  the 
Boulevard  des  Invalides.  About  the  month  of  December, 
1843,  h^  went  alone  from  his  mansion  on  a  political  mission ; 
during  what  time  his  wife  welcomed  the  frequent  and  com- 
promising visits  of  young  Alfred  de  Vandenesse,  which  was 
the  real  cause  of  her  mother's  sudden  death  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  >S^]. 

Saint-Hereen,  Comtesse  MoYna  de,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going; the  sole  survivor  of  the  five  children  of  M.  and  Mme. 
d'Aiglemont,  in  the  second  half  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign. 
Blindly  spoiled  by  her  mother,  she  did  not  respond  to  that 
affection,  but  treated  her  in  return  with  coolness.  By  a  cruel 
response  Moina  was  the  cause  of  her  mother's  sudden  death  : 
in  fact,  she  dared  to  speak  to  her  mother  of  her  former  intimacy 

*  Extolled   at   Mme.   de  la   Baudraye's  castle  by  Etienne  Lousteau, 
Horace  Bianchon,  etc.,  in  1836. 
f  Now  the  Rue  Oudinot. 


474  COMPENDIUM 

with  Marquis  Charles  de  Vandenesse,  whose  son  Alfred  she 
had  herself  welcomed,  owing  to  the  complaisance  and  absence 
of  M.  de  Saint-Hereen  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\  In  a  con- 
versation about  love  between  the  Marquise  de  Vandenesse, 
Lady  Dudley,  Mile,  des  Touches,  the  Marquise  de  Rochefide, 
and  Mme.  d'Espard,  Moina  said  with  a  smile:  "A  lover  is 
the  forbidden  fruit,  and  that's  enough  for  me  !  "  [A  Daughter 
of  Eve,  "F],  Mme.  Octave  de  Camps,  speaking  of  Nais  de 
I'Estorade,  made  this  remark  :  "  This  little  girl  is  disquieting; 
she  puts  me  in  mind  of  MoVna  d'Aiglemont "  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  I>iy\. 

Saint-Martin,  Louis-Claude  de,  called  **  the  Unknown 
Philosopher";  born  January  i8,  1743,  at  Amboise ;  died 
October  13,  1803  ;  he  was  very  often  received  at  Clochegourde 
by  Mme.  de  Verneuil,  Mme.  de  Mortsauf's  aunt,  who  knew 
him.  From  Clochegourde  Saint-Martin  supervised  the  pub- 
lication of  his  last  books  printed  by  Letourmy  at  Tours  [The 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Saint-Vier,  Madame  de.     See  Gentillet. 

Sainte-Beuve,  Charles- Augustin,  born  at  Boulogne-sur- 
Mer  in  1805  ;  died  at  Paris  in  1869 — an  academician,  and  in 
the  second  Empire  a  senator.  A  celebrated  French  literati 
who  wickedly  enough  caricatured  Raoul  Nathan  before 
Beatrix  de  Rochefide,  in  the  course  of  the  recital  of  la 
Palferine  adventures  [A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  FF\ 

Sainte-Severe,  Madame  de,  Gaston  de  Nueil's  cousin ; 
she  resided  at  Bayeux,  where  she  welcomed  her  young  relation 
in  1822;  he  was  convalescent  of  an  inflammatory  illness 
caused  either  by  excessive  studies  or  pleasures  [A  Forsaken 
Woman,  Ti]. 

Saintot,  Astolphe  de,  one  of  the  frequenters  of  Mme.  de 
Bargeton's  salons,  at  Angouldme ;  president  of  the  agricultural 
society  in  that  town ;  "as  ignorant  as  a  carp,"  he  passed  for 
being  a  scientist  of  the  first  water,  and,  although  he  knew 
nothing,  he  allowed  it  to  be  thought  that  he  was  engaged,  and 


COM^DIE  HI/MAINE.  475 

had  been  for  a  number  of  years,  on  a  treatise  on  modern 
culture.  In  society  he  was  forever  quoting  Cicero,  learning 
the  phrases  by  heart  in  the  morning,  and  reciting  them  in 
the  evening.  A  tall,  fat  man  with  a  high  color,  Saintot 
nevertheless  seemed  dominated  by  his  wife  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, JV]. 

Saintot,  Madame  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  her  Christian 
name  was  Elisa,  but  she  was  generally  called  Lili,  a  childish 
abbreviation  that  was  in  striking  contrast  to  her  person — she 
was  lean,  solemn,  extremely  religious,  pleased  with  difficulty 
and  bickering  [Lost  Illusions,  3^]. 

Sallenauve,  Francois-Henri-Pantaleon  Dumirail,  Mar- 
quis DE,*  of  Champagne.  He  was  quite  ruined,  having  lost 
his  all  in  gambling,  when  in  his  old  age,  through  the  offices 
of  Jacques  Bricheteau,  he  consented  to  acknowledge  Charles 
Dorlange  as  his  son  f  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  J>2>]. 

Sallenauve,  Comte  de,  the  legal  son  of  the  foregoing, 
born  in  1809;  Danton's  grandson  on  the  maternal  side;  a 
schoolfellow  of  Marie  Gaston,  he  remained  his  friend  and 
fought  a  duel  on  his  behalf.  For  a  long  time  he  was  of  un- 
known family,  and  lived  under  the  name  of  Charles  Dorlange 
until  nearly  thirty  years  of  age.  "While  a  student  in  the 
sculptor's  art  he  received  lessons  of  Thorwaldsen  and  com- 
pleted his  artistic  lessons  in  Rome.  In  that  city  Dorlange 
became  acquainted  with  the  Lantys  ;  he  gave  lessons  to  their 
daughter  Marianini,  whom  he  loved  ;  he  also  met  Luigia  there, 
and  he  received  her  when  she  became  Benedetto's  widow;  he 
took  her  as  his  housekeeper  and  respected  her ;  she  accom- 
panied him  to  and  lived  with  him  in  Paris,  residing  at  No.  42 

*  Much  of  this  and  the  two  succeeding  biographies  is  gathered  from  M. 
Rabou's  works,  written  after  Balzac's  death.  It  is  inserted  to  fill  in  the 
lacking  details. — Translator. 

f  Rabou  makes  Dorlange  the  natural  child  of  Catherine- Antoinette 
Goussard  by  Jacques  Collin.  He  also  gives  the  death  of  Sallenauve  as 
happening  on  a  three-masted  vessel,  the  Retribution,  during  a  voyage  he 
was  making  in  1845. — Translator. 


476  COMPENDIUM 

Rue  de  I'Ouest.*  He  once  lived  with  Marie  Gaston,  not  far 
from  the  Rue  d'Enfer.f  Every  quarter  he  received  an  income 
large  enough  for  his  actual  needs,  and  sent  to  him  by  Gorenflot 
or  Jacques  Bricheteau.  Following  their  instructions  he  ac- 
cepted instructions  from  the  Ursulines  of  Arcis  for  a  piece 
of  sculpture ;  he  became  a  candidate  for  election  as  deputy 
in  that  arrondissement  in  1839.  He  received  a  cordial  wel- 
come and  much  assistance  from  Achille  Pigoult.  He  was  a  fre- 
quenter of  the  I'Estorades'  salons.  Sallenauve  seemed  to  love 
Renee  de  I'Estorade,  or  so  that  lady,  who  was  the  natural  sis- 
ter of  Marianina  de  Lanty,  appeared  to  think.  Thanks  to  the 
Marquis  Fran^ois-Henri-Pantaleon  de  Sallenauve,  who  adopted 
him,  Dorlange  became  Comte  de  Sallenauve ;  he  was  elected 
deputy  for  Arcis,  and  showed  himself  brilliant  both  in  manners 
and  politics  ;  he  met  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  Maxime  de  Trailles, 
and  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon.  A  contest  arose  as  to  the 
validity  of  his  election,  but  was  decided  favorably  to  him 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>jy,  JEE]. 

Sallenauve,  Comtesse  de,  nee  Jeanne-AthenaYs  de  l'Es- 
TORADE  (NaVs,  the  familiar  abbreviation  of  her  name,  undoubt- 
edly became  Sallenauve's  wife);  she  had  been  a  precocious 
child,  somewhat  spoiled  by  the  Comte  and  Comtesse  de 
I'Estorade,  her  parents ;  she  loved  Sallenauve  when  she  first 
met  him  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>J>,  etc.]. 

Salmon,  an  old  expert  in  the  Museum,  Paris.  In  1826, 
while  on  a  visit  to  Tours,  where  he  had  gone  to  see  his 
mother-in-law,  he  was  asked  to  give  an  estimate  of  the  value 
of  a  "Virgin  "  by  Valentin  and  a  ''  Christ  "  by  Lebrun,  two 
paintings  which  Abbe  Francois  Birotteau  inherited  from  Abbe 
Chapeloud,  and  which  he  left  in  a  suite  of  rooms  recently 
occupied  by  him  in  Mile.  Sophie  Gamard's  house  [The  Abbe 
Birotteau,  t]. 

Salomon,  Joseph,  of  Tours  or  its  neighborhood ;  uncle 
and  guardian  of  Pauline  Salomon  de  Villenoix ;  a  very  wealthy 

*  Now  the  Rue  d' Assas.  f  Really  the  Rue  Denfert-Rochereau. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  477 

Israelite ;  he  deeply  loved  his  niece,  and  wished  her  to  make 
a  brilliant  marriage.  Louis  Lambert,  Pauline's  fiance,  said : 
''That  redoubtable  Salomon  freezes  me;  that  man  is  not  of 
our  heaven  "  [Louis  Lambert,  ii\. 

Samanon,  a  questionable  speculator  of  Paris  during  the 
reigns  of  Louis  VIIL  and  Charles  X.,  in  divers  and  numerous 
ways  made  considerable  money.  In  182 1  Lucien  de  Rubempre, 
while  a  novice,  went  into  his  store  of  all  sorts,  in  the  Poison- 
niere  faubourg,  and  saw  his  several  trades  and  industries: 
a  second-hand  clothes  dealer  and  money-lender  on  the  same, 
a  broker,  a  bill-discounter,  etc.;  he  there  found  a  certain 
great  man  who  remains  unknown  :*  a  cynical  Bohemian  who 
had  donned  his  own  clothing  which  he  had  left  in  pledge  to 
Samanon  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilff].  About 
three  years  later  Samanon  was  the  man  of  straw  in  the  part- 
nership formed  by  Jean-Esther-Gobseck-Bidault  (Gigonnet), 
who  were  after  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx  for  debt  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc\.  After  1830  the  usurer  helped  Cerizet  &  Claparon, 
when  they  brought  Maxime  de  Trailles  to  bay  and  collected 
his  acceptances  [A  Man  of  Business,  V\.  The  same  Samanon, 
about  1844,  had  bills  of  exchange  to  the  value  of  ten  thousand 
francs  against  Baron  Hulot  d'Ervy,  who  was  then  known  as 
Father  Vyder,  and  concealed  himself  under  that  pseudonym 
[Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

San-Esteban,  Marquise  de,  the  exotic  and  aristocratic 
name  assumed  by  Jacqueline  Collin  when  she  visited  the 
Conciergerie,  in  May,  1830,  in  order  to  see  the  prisoner 
Jacques  Collin,  who  then  masqueraded  under  the  name  of 
Carlos  Herrera  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ;^]. 

San-Real,  Don  Hijos,  Marquis  de,  born  about  1735; 
a  powerful  lord  who  had  the  friendship  of  Ferdinand  VIL, 
King  of  Spain  ;  married  to  a  natural  daughter  of  Lord  Dudley, 
Margarita-Euphemia  Porraberil,  born  of  a  Spanish  woman, 
and  living  with  him  in  Paris  in  181 5  ;  they  resided  near  de 
*  M.  de  Louvenjoul  believes  this  was  Balzac. — Translator. 


478  COMPENDIUM 

Nucingen,  in  a  mansion  on  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare  [The  Girl 
with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

San- Real,  Marquise  de,  nee  Margarita-Euphemia  Por- 
RABERiL,  the  natural  daughter  of  Lord  Dudley  and  a  Spanish 
woman,  the  half-sister  of  Henri  de  Marsay ;  had  the  energetic 
venturesomeness  of  her  brother,  whom  she  also  resembled 
physically.  Brought  up  in  Havana  she  afterward  went  to 
Madrid,  accompanied  by  a  young  creole  of  the  West  Indies, 
Paquita  Valdes,  with  whom  she  had  a  warm  intimacy  which  was 
not  interrupted  by  her  marriage  and  continued  in  Paris,  1815, 
until  the  time  that  the  marquise  found  she  had  a  rival  in  her 
brother  Henri  de  Marsay;  she  killed  Paquita.  After  this 
death  Mme.  de  San-Real  sought  retreat  in  Spain  at  the  los 
Dolores  convent  [The  Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

Sanson,  Charles-Henri,  the  executor  of  ''high  works  " 
in  the  time  of  the  Revolution;  the  executioner  of  Louis  XVI.; 
he  assisted  at  two  masses  commemorative  of  the  King's  death, 
celebrated  in  1793  and  1794,  by  Abbe  de  Marolles,  to  whom 
his  identity  was  afterward  revealed  by  Ragon  [An  Episode  of 
the  Reign  of  Terror,  f]. 

Sanson,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  about  1770,  descended 
like  him  from  the  executioner  of  Rouen.  After  being  a 
captain  in  the  cavalry,  he  assisted  his  father  in  the  execution 
of  Louis  XVI. ;  when  two  scaffolds  were  erected — Place  Louis 
XV.  and  Place  du  Trone — he  took  charge  of  the  second  one, 
and  afterward  succeeded  his  father.  Sanson  went  to  ''accom- 
modate" Theodore  Calvi,  May,  1830  j  he  there  awaited  the 
decisive  command  to  proceed,  but  it  failed  to  arrive.  He 
had  the  aspect  of  an  Englishman  and  was  relatively  dis- 
tinguished in  appearance.  At  least  Sanson  gave  that  impres- 
sion to  Jacques  Collin,  when  the  old  ex-convict  was  detained 
in  the  Conciergerie  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^.  Sanson  lived 
on  the  Rue  des  Marais,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Martin  quarter. 

Sarcus  was,  under  Louis  XVIII.,  justice  of  the  peace  at 
Soulanges,  where  he  lived  on  his  salary  of  fifteen  hundred 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  479 

francs,  and  the  rent  of  a  furnished  house  which  brought  him 
in  one  hundred  crowns.  Sarcus  married  the  eldest  sister  of 
the  pharmacist  Vermut,  of  Soulanges;  by  her  he  had  one 
daughter,  Adeline,  who  afterward  became  Mme.  Adolphe 
Sibilet.  A  pretty,  little  old  man  with  dappled  gray  hair, 
this  functionary  was  of  an  inferior  order,  none  the  less  he  was 
the  statesman  in  the  first  society  of  Soulanges  in  which  Mme. 
Soudry  reigned,  and  in  which  were  found  nearly  all  of  Mont- 
cornet's  adversaries  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Sarcus,  the  cousin  in  the  third  degree  of  the  foregoing 
(called  the  rich  Sarcus),  was,  in  1817,  councilor  to  the  de- 
partment of  Burgundy  which  had  been  successively  adminis- 
tered, under  the  Restoration,  by  MM.  de  la  Roche-Hugon 
and  de  Casteran,  and  which  had  dependent  upon  it  Ville-aux- 
Fayes,  Soulanges,  Blangy,  and  the  Aigues.  He  recommended 
Sibilet  as  steward  of  the  Aigues,  Montcornet's  estate.  M. 
Sarcus,  the  rich,  was  a  deputy ;  it  was  said  of  him  that  he  was 
the  prefect's  right  arm  [The  Peasantry,  JK\. 

Sarcus,  Madame,  nee  Vallat,  1778;  wife  of  the  fore- 
going ;  she  belonged  to  a  family  that  was  related  to  the  Gau- 
bertins ;  she  passed  for  having  distinguished  M.  Lupin  in  her 
youth;  he  still  courted  her  affection  in  1823,  this  woman  of 
forty-five,  the  mother  of  a  civil  engineer  [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Sarcus^  son  of  the  foregoing;  in  1823  he  became  engineer- 
in-ordinary  of  roads  and  bridges  at  Ville-aux-Fayes ;  he  com- 
pleted the  groups  of  powerful  families  of  that  vicinity  who 
were  hostile  to  Montcornet  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Sarcus-Taupin,  a  miller  at  Soulanges;  he  owned  an  in- 
come of  fifty  thousand  francs ;  the  Nucingen  of  the  town ; 
the  father  of  a  daughter  whose  hand  was  sought  by  the  notary 
Lupin  and  president  Gendrin,  for  their  sons  [The  Peasan- 
try, M\ 

Sarrasine,  Matthieu  or  Mathieu,  a  country  laborer  of 
Saint-Die;  the  father  of  a  wealthy  procureur;  the  sculptor 
Ernest-Jean  Sarrasine's  grandfather  [Sarrasine,  ds,  IL]. 


480  COMPENDIUM 

Sarrasine,  a  wealthy  procureur  of  the  eighteenth  century ; 
the  sculptor  Ernest-Jean  Sarrasine's  father  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II.]. 

Sarrasine,  Ernest-Jean,  a  remarkable  French  sculptor, 
born  at  Besan^on,  in  1736  ;  the  son  and  grandson  of  the  fore- 
going by  the  same  surname.  When  a  young  man  he  took  an 
artist's  vocation  against  the  parental  wishes,  his  father  desiring 
him  to  enter  the  magistracy;  he  reached  Paris,  where  he 
entered  the  study  of  Bouchardon,  in  whom  he  found  a  pro- 
tector and  friend;  he  knew  Mme.  Geoffrin,  Sophie  Arnould, 
Baron  d'Holbach,  and  J.  J.  Rousseau.  He  became  the  lover 
of  Clotilde,  an  operatic  favorite ;  Sarrasine  obtained  the  prize 
for  sculpture  founded  by  Marigiv  ,  the  brother  of  la  Pompa- 
dour, and  received  the  compliments  of  Diderot.  He  after- 
ward lived  in  Rome,  1758;  there  he  had  as  companions: 
Vien,  Louthrebourg,*  Allegrain,  Vitagliani,  Cicognara,  and 
Chige.  He  was  foolishly  smitten  by  the  castrated  Zambinella, 
uncle  of  the  Lanty-Duvignons :  he  thought  the  creature  was 
feminine,  for  he  had  a  magnificent  bust  and  was  a  strange  singer, 
and  was  supported  by  Cicognara;  he  abducted  him  and 
perished  by  assassination,  at  his  rival's  instigation,  during 
that  same  year  of  1758.  Sarrasine's  life  was  narrated,  under 
the  Restoration,  to  Beatrix  de  Rochefide  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II. 
— The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  D^J\. 

Sauteloup,  familiarly  cdled  *' Father  Sauteloup";  was 
instructed,  in  May,  1830,  to  read  the  death-warrant  to  Theo- 
dore Calvi,  a  prisoner  in  the  Conciergerie,  and  to  reject  his 
;;etition  to  the  Court  of  Cassation  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\ 

Sauvage,  Madame,  a  person  of  repulsive  figure  and  con- 
testable morality;  the  servant-mistress  of  Maitre  Fraisier; 
with  Mme.  Cantinet  she  took  charge  of  Schmucke's  house- 
hold affairs,  he  who  was  the  legatee  of  the  old  collector  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville  [Cousin  Pons,  iic]. 

Sauvager,  first  substitute  to  the  King's  procureur,  at 
Alen^on ;  a  young  married  judge,  sharp,  dry,  ambitious,  and 
*  Spelled  indifferently  Lutteibourg  and  Lauterbourg. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  481 

covetous.  He  took  part  against  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon  in 
that  resounding  affair  called  the  d'Esgrignon-du  Bousquier 
matter;  after  that  noted  cause  he  was  sent  out  to  Corsica 
[The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  a(l\. 

Sauvagnest,  Bordin's  successor  and  Maitre  Desroches* 
predecessor ;  was  an  attorney  in  Paris  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Sauvaignou,  of  Marseilles,  a  foreman  working  carpenter  ;* 
mixed  up  in  the  hubbub  over  the  sale  of  the  house  on  the 
Place  de  la  Madeleine,  in  1840,  to  the  Thuilliers;  he  was  used 
by  Cerizet,  Claparon,  and  Dutocq,  and  finally  by  Theodose 
de  la  Peyrade  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Sauviat,  Jerome-Baptiste,  born  in  Auvergne  about  1 747 ; 
an  old-iron  dealer  from  1792  to  1796 ;  of  a  true  trading  nature  : 
sharp,  active,  and  avaricious;  he  was  sincerely  religious; 
during  the  Terror  he  was  imprisoned,  and  only  just  failed  of 
being  executed  for  having  favored  the  flight  of  a  bishop.  He 
married  Mile.  Champagnac,  at  Limoges,  in  1797;  by  her  he 
had  one  daughter,  Veronique  (Mme.  Pierre  Graslin).  After 
the  death  of  his  father-in-law  he  bought,  in  the  same  town,  the 
house  in  which  he  had  been  a  tenant,  and  in  which  he  had  been 
a  vendor  of  tinware,  etc.,  and  there  continued  the  trade;  he 
retired  from  business  quite  wealthy.  He  was  later  engaged 
as  superintendent  in  a  porcelain  factory  in  which  J.  F. 
Tascheron  worked ;  he  was  in  that  position  at  least  three 
years;  he  died,  as  the  result  of  an  accident,  in  1827  [The 
Country  Parson,  F\ 

Sauviat,  Madame,  nee  Champagnac,  about  1767,  wife  of 
the  foregoing ;  the  daughter  of  a  tinker  at  Limoges ;  a  widow 
in  1797,  she  inherited  her  husband's  estate.  Mme.  Sauviat 
resided  successively  near  the  Rue  de  la  Vieille-Poste,  a  suburb 
of  Limoges,  and  at  Montegnac.  Like  Sauviat,  she  was  a  hard 
worker,  sharp,  avaricious,  economical,  and  harsh,  and  religious 
beside ;  again,  like  him,  she  worshiped  Veronique ;  she  knew 

*  Sauvaignou  was  a  petty  contractor  for  the  labor  in  the  erection  of 
buildings. 
31 


482  COMPENDIUM 

her  terrible  secret,  which  was  a  kind  of  Marcellange  *  affair 
[The  Country  Parson,  jP]. 

Sauviat,  Veronique.     See  Graslin,  Madame  Pierre. 

Savaron  de  Savarus,  a  noble,  wealthy  Belgian  family, 
of  whom  the  several  members  known  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury were :  Savaron  de  Savarus,  of  Tournai,  a  Fleming  faithful 
to  Flanders'  traditions,  and  who  without  doubt  was  a  relative 
of  or  in  correspondence  with  the  Claes  and  Pierquins  [The 
Quest  of  the  Absolute,  J>] ;  Mademoiselle  Brabangonne 
Savarus,  an  opulent  heiress;  and  Albert  Savarus,  a  French 
barrister,  a  descendant,  in  the  natural  line,  of  the  Comte  de 
Savarus  [Albert  Savaron,/*]. 

Savarus,  Albert  Savaron  de,  of  the  preceding  family, 
but  the  natural  son  of  Comte  de  Savarus;  born  about  1798; 
was  secretary  of  one  of  Charles  X.'s  ministries,  and  a  master 
of  requests.  The  Revolution  of  1830  broke  down  his  career 
which  had  auspiciously  opened.  A  love  he  had  for  the  Duch- 
esse  d'Argaiolo,  afterward  Mme.  Alphonse  de  Rhetore,  caused 
Savarus  to  resume  his  activity  and  spirit  of  enterprise ;  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  Besan^on,  gathered  a  practice,  was 
received  with  kclai,  founded  "la  Revue  de  I'Est,"  in  which 
he  published  an  autobiographical  novel:  'M'Ambitieux  par 
amour,"  and  announced  himself  as  a  legislative  candidate, 
receiving  a  warm  welcome,  1834.  Albert  Savarus,  with  his 
powerful,  thoughtful  head,  would  have  seen  the  realization  of 
his  dreams  but  for  the  fantastic  romance  and  jealousy  of 
Rosalie  de  Watteville,  who  surprised  and  broke  down  his 
every  plan  and  brought  about  the  second  marriage  of  Mme. 
d'ArgaYolo,  1842,  His  expectations  and  faith  ruined,  Albert 
Savarus  made  a  Carthusian  retreat  of  his  mother's  house,  situ- 
ated near  Grenoble,  and  became  Brother  Albert  [The  Quest 
of  the  Absolute,  _D — Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Schiltz  married  a  Barnheim,  of  Baden,  and  by  her  had  one 
daughter,  Josephine,  afterward  Mme.  Fabien  du  Ronceret ; 
*  A  noted  criminal  trial  of  that  time. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  483 

he  was  an  *'  intrepid  colonel,  the  head  of  bold  Alsacian  parti- 
sans who  failed  to  save  the  Emperor  in  the  French  campaign." 
He  died  at  Metz,  pillaged  and  ruined  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Schiltz,  Josephine,  called  Madame  Schontz.  See  Ron- 
ceret,  Madame  Fabien  du. 

ScherbellofF,  Scherbellof,  or  Sherbelloff,  Princesse  ; 
the  maternal  grandmother  of  Mme.  de  Montcornet  [The  Jeal- 
ousies of  a  Country  Town,  A.A. — The  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Schinner,  Mademoiselle,  mother  of  the  painter  Hippo- 
lyte  Schinner,  daughter  of  an  Alsacian  farmer.  After  being 
seduced  by  a  wealthy,  indelicate  man,  she  refused  the  money 
offered  her  as  compensation,  and  refused  to  legitimize  the 
fruit  of  their  amours ;  she  took  refuge  in  maternity  and  de- 
voted herself  entirely  to  her  son.  At  the  time  of  her  son's 
marriage  she  lived  in  Paris  with  him,  in  apartments  near  his 
study,  not  far  from  the  Madeleine,  Rue  des  Champs-Elysees* 
[The  Purse,  p\. 

Schinner,  Hippolyte,  painter;  natural  son  of  the  fore- 
going, of  Alsacian  origin,  acknowledged  only  by  his  mother ; 
a  pupil  of  Gros,  in  whose  study  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Joseph  Bridau  [A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  J\  Schinner 
married  under  Louis  XVIII. ;  at  that  time  he  was  chevalier 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  already  celebrated  as  a  painter. 
While  working  in  a  furnished  room  belonging  to  Molineux, 
near  the  Madeleine,  he  came  to  know  two  of  the  tenants — 
Mme.  and  Mile.  Leseigneur  de  Rouville ;  without  doubt  he 
imitated  the  delicate  conduct  of  their  benefactor  and  friend, 
Kergarouet;  he  was  touched  with  the  cordiality  with  which 
the  baroness  received  him,  in  spite  of  her  poverty ;  he  loved, 
with  a  passion  equally  partaken  by  its  object,  Adelaide  de 
Rouville,  and  married  her  [The  Purse,  p\.  Intimate  with 
Pierre  Grassou  he  gave  him  excellent  advice,  which  that 
mediocre  artist  was  unable  to  turn  to  his  advantage  [Pierre 
Grassou,  r\.  In  1822  Comte  de  Serizy  commissioned 
*  Now  the  Rue  Boissy-d'Anglas. 


484  COMPENDIUM 

Schinner  to  decorate  his  castle  of  Presles;  Joseph  Bridau, 
who  went  down  to  complete  the  work  of  his  master,  in  an  access 
of  bandiage  took  and  appeared  under  Schinner' s  name  [A 
Start  in  Life,  s\  The  autobiographical  novel :  *'  TAmbitieux 
par  amour,"  by  Albert  Savarus,  mentions  Schinner  [Albert 
Savaron,  /*].  He  was  Xavier  Rabourdin's  friend  [Les  Em- 
ployes, cc\.  He  drew  the  vignettes  for  Canalis'  works 
[Modeste  Mignon,  ^].  He  also  executed  the  remarkable 
ceilings  in  Adam  Laginski's  mansion,  situated  on  the  Rue  de 
la  Pepinidre  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  li\.  About  1845  ^^P" 
polyte  Schinner  resided  not  far  from  the  Rue  de  Berlin,  near 
to  Leon  de  Lora,  of  whom  he  had  been  the  first  tutor  [The 
Unconscious  Mummers,  ijC\. 

Schinner,  Madame,  nee  Adelaide  Leseigneur  de  Rou- 
viLLE,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  daughter  of  Baron  and  Baronne 
de  Rouville,  the  former  a  naval  officer ;  living  in  Paris,  during 
the  Restoration,  with  her  mother  as  tenants  of  a  house  situated 
on  the  Rue  de  Sur6ne,  belonging  to  Molineux.  Orphaned  of 
her  father,  the  future  Mme.  Schinner  awaited,  not  without 
hardships,  the  tardy  liquidation  of  her  father's  pension ;  so 
Admiral  de  Kergarouet,  an  old  friend,  discreetly  assisted  both 
herself  and  mother.  About  this  time  she  cared  for  her  neigh- 
bor, Hippolyte  Schinner,  who  had  had  a  fall ;  she  loved  him  and 
was  beloved  in  return ;  the  gift  of  a  pretty  purse  embroidered 
by  the  young  damsel  brought  about  their  happy  marriage  [The 
Purse,  p\. 

Schmucke,  Wilhelm,  a  German  Roman  Catholic ;  a  man 
of  great  musical  feeling ;  innocent,  candid,  simple  in  manner, 
and  of  a  gentle  and  honest  nature.  He  was  first  chapel- 
master  (organist)  to  the  Margrave  of  Anspach  ;  he  had  known 
the  great  writer,  Hoffmann,  of  Berlin,  and  remembered  him 
later  when  he  owned  a  cat  called  Miirr.  Schmucke  afterward 
went  to  Paris;  he  there  lived,  in  1835-36,  in  a  small  apart- 
ment on  the  Quai  Conti,  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  de  Nevers.* 

*  Possibly  this  was  the  former  lodging-place  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE  485 

Before  this  he  gave  lessons  in  harmony  in  the  Marais  quarter, 
which  were  much  appreciated  by  the  Granvilles'  daughters, 
who  later  became  Mesdames  de  Vandenesse  and  du  Tillet :  he 
afterward  received  the  former,  who  came  to  ask  him  to  indorse 
her  notes  in  order  to  save  Raoul  Nathan  [A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  Y\  Schmucke  was  also  Lydie  Peyrade's  professor,  be- 
fore her  marriage  with  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y^ ;  but,  with  Mesdames  de  Vandenesse  and  du 
Tillet,  he  regarded  the  future  Vicomtesse  de  Portenduere, 
Ursule  Mirouet,*  as  his  favorite  pupil,  one  of  his  three 
"Sainte-Cecilias,"  who  each  united  in  allowing  him  a  modest 
pension  [Ursule  Mirouet,  jET].  The  old  chapel-master  was 
ugly  and  senile  in  appearance,  which  gained  him  the  more 
ready  welcome  in  young  ladies'  boarding-schools.  At  a  dis- 
tribution of  prizes  he  met  Sylvain  Pons,  whom  he  loved  at 
once  with  an  affection  that  was  fully  reciprocated,  1834. 
This  intimacy  resulted  in  their  forming  one  household  on 
the  Rue  de  Normandie,  where  they  were  the  tenants  of  C.  J. 
Pillerault,  1836.  Schmucke  lived  nine  years  of  perfect  hap- 
piness. Gaudissart  became  director  of  a  theatre  and  employed 
him  in  his  orchestra ;  he  copied  the  musical  parts,  played  the 
piano  and  the  usual  run  of  instruments  used  nowhere  but  in 
the  boulevard  theatres :  the  love  viola,  cor  anglais,  the  'cello, 
harp,  castanets,  bells,  the  Sax  inventions,  etc.f  Pons  made 
him  his  universal  legatee,  April,  1845  5  t)ut  the  open-minded 
German  was  no  match  in  the  struggle  against  Maitre  Fraisier, 
the  Camusots  de  Marville's  agent,  who  despoiled  him.  In 
spite  of  Topinard,  of  whom  in  despair  at  the  death  of  his 
friend  he  had  asked  hospitality,  and  who  cited  Bordin  to  him, 

*  The  compilers  have  here  a  footnote  reading:  "Or  Mirouet;  the 
exact  orthography  of  the  name  is  very  uncertain.  The  Edition  Dijinitive 
mostly  giving  it  Mirouet."  In  the  present  translation  this  has  been 
changed  to  conform  to  the  orthography  used  in  our  Saintsbury  edition. — 
Translator. 

f  The  instruments  usually  manipulated  by  the  drummer  in  this  country. 


486  COMPENDIUM 

Schmucke  was  beaten  and  stricken  by  an  apoplexy  ;  he  soon 
died  [Cousin  Pons,  q6\, 

Schontz,  Madame,  the  name  borne  by  Mile.  Schiltz,  who 
became  by  marriage  Mme.  Fabien  du  Ronceret.  See  the  last 
name. 

Schwab,  WiLHELM,  born  during  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  at  Strasbourg,  of  a  German  family  ol 
Kehl ;  he  had  as  a  friend  Frederic  (Fritz)  Brunner,  of  whose 
follies  he  partook,  and  who  helped  him  in  his  poverty  to  reach 
Paris ;  there  they  together  descended  on  the  hotel  du  Rhin, 
Rue  du  Mail,  kept  by  Johann  Graff,  Emilie's  father,  and  the 
brother  of  the  noted  tailor  Wolfgang.  Schwab  kept  the  books 
of  that  rival  of  Humann  and  Staub.  Some  years  afterward  he 
became  a  flautist  at  the  theatre  in  which  Pons  directed  the 
orchestra.  During  an  intermission  between  the  acts  of  *'The 
Devil's  Fiancee,"  given  during  the  autumn  of  1844,  Schwab 
gave  an  invitation  to  Pons,  by  Schmucke,  to  his  approaching 
wedding-feast ;  he  married,  by  mutual  inclination.  Mile.  Emi- 
lie  Graff;  he  later  became  Frederic  Brunner's  partner,  who 
had  become  wealthy  by  the  inheritance  of  his  father's  estate, 
as  a  banker  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Schwab,  Madame  Wilhelm,  nte  Emilie  Graff,  wife  of 
the  foregoing;  beautiful  and  accomplished;  niece  of  Wolfgang 
Graff;  dowered  by  the  opulent  tailor  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Scio,  Madame,  a  cantatrice  of  reputation  in  the  Feydeau 
theatre,  1798;  was  very  excellent  in  **The  Peruvians,"  a  comic 
opera  by  Mongenod,  which  met  with  but  a  mediocre  success 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Sccevola,  Mucius.  Behind  this  assumed  name  was  hidden, 
under  the  Terror,  a  man  who  had  been  Prince  de  Conti's 
huntsman,  and  who  owed  his  fortune  to  that  prince.  He  was 
a  plasterer,  and  owned  a  small  house  in  Paris  near  the  fau- 
bourg Saint-Martin,*  not  far  from  the  Rue  d'AUemagne;  he 

*  His  parish  church  was  Saint-Laurent,  which  at  one  time  during  the 
Revolution  took  the  name  of  the  Temple  of  the  Faithful. 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE,  487 

disguised  himself  under  an  exaggerated  citizenship,  which 
masked  his  faithful  adherence  to  the  Bourbons ;  he  was  the 
mysterious  protector  of  Sisters  Martha  and  Agathe  (Mesdemoi- 
selles  de  Beauseant  and  de  Langeais),  nuns  who  had  escaped 
from  the  abbey  of  Chelles,  and  who  had  taken  refuge  there 
with  Abbe  de  Marolles  [An  Episode  of  the  Reign  of  Terror,  t\ 

Sechard,  Jerome- Nicolas,  born  in  1743.  After  having 
been  a  workman  in  a  printery  at  Angouleme,  situated  in  the 
Place  du  Murier,  and  although  very  illiterate,  he  afterv/ard 
became  its  proprietor  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution ;  at  this 
epoch  he  knew  the  Marquis  de  Maucombe ;  he  married  a  wife 
with  a  certain  amount  of  alacrity,  but  soon  lost  her  after  she 
had  given  birth  to  a  son,  David.  Under  Louis  XVIII.,  fear- 
ing the  opposition  of  Cointet,  J.  N.  Sechard  retired,  selling 
his  establishment  to  his  son,  to  whom  he  sold  high,  on  a  fall- 
ing market,  and  then  the  drunken  old  vinegrower  went  to 
live  at  Marsac,  near  Angouleme.  Up  to  the  end  of  his  life 
Sechard  aggravated  without  pity  the  commercial  difficulties  in 
the  midst  of  which  his  son  David  had  fallen.  The  old  miser 
died  about  1829,  leaving  an  estate  of  some  value  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, 3^]. 

Sechard,  David,  only  son  of  the  foregoing;  Lucien  de 
Rubempre's  schoolfellow  and  friend ;  he  was  apprenticed  to 
the  printing  trade  at  the  Didots,  Paris.  Many  times,  when 
he  returned  to  his  native  place,  he  gave  proof  of  his  kindness 
and  delicacy.  Having  bought  his  father's  printery,  he  know- 
ingly allowed  himself  to  be  duped  and  exploited  by  him ;  he 
took  Lucien  de  Rubempre  as  his  proof-reader,  partly  out  of 
charity,  though  he  had  a  great  affection  for  him  beside,  and 
partly  out  of  love  for  Lucien's  sister.  Eve  Chardon,  whom  he 
married  in  spite  of  their  mutual  poverty,  for  the  printing-office 
was  not  a  paying  concern.  This  assumed  extra  expense  well 
pleased  the  Cointets;  they  had  David  the  inventor  watched  to 
try  and  discover  what  progress  he  made  in  making  paper,  and 
to  learn  all  his  secrets ;   they  reduced  him  to  embarrassment. 


488  COMPENDIUM 

Although  he  succeeded  in  his  invention,  all  was  lost  to  Sechard 
through  the  cunning  and  power  of  the  Cointet  firm  ;  the  spy- 
ing of  the  ungrateful  Cerizet,  his  old  apprentice  ;  the  dissipated 
life  and  wrongdoing  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre,  and  the  jealous 
cupidity  of  his  father,  Jerome-Nicolas  Sechard.  The  victim 
of  the  Cointets'  machinations,  Sechard's  discovery  became 
known  to  them ;  he  lived  resigned,  became  his  father's  heir, 
and,  sustained  by  the  devotion  of  the  Kolbs,  went  to  live  in 
his  father's  old  place  at  Marsac,  where  he  received  Maitre 
Derville,  who  was  taken  thither  by  Corentin  ;  they  went  to  get 
full  information  as  to  the  origin  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre's 
million  [Lost  Illusions,  3^— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y9  Z\ 

Sechard,  Madame  David,  nie  Eve  Chardon,  wife  of  the 
foregoing;  born  in  1804;  the  daughter  of  a  druggist  of  Hou- 
meau,  a  suburb  of  Angouleme;  a  damsel  of  the  house  of 
Rubempre.  She  once  worked  for  Mme.  Prieur,  a  clear- 
starcher  and  laundress,  for  fifteen  sous  a  day.  She  was  always 
devoted  to  her  brother  Lucien;  in  1821  she  married  David 
Sechard,  who  was  also  devoted  to  her  brother.  She  took  full 
management  of  the  printery  and  struggled  against  the  Coin- 
tets, Cerizet,  and  Petit-Claud,  and  tried  hard  to  humanize  old 
Sechard.  She  became  the  modest  lady  of  the  manor  of  la 
Verberie  at  Marsac.  By  her  husband  she  had  at  least  one 
child,  the  living  picture  and  of  the  same  Christian  name  as 
her  brother  Lucien.  Mme.  David  Sechard  was  a  fine  brunette 
with  blue  eyes  [Lost  Illusions,  ^— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 

Sechard,  Lucien,  son  of  the  foregoing  [Lost  Illusions,  'N\ 

Segaud,  an  attorney  at  Angouleme ;  he  was  Petit-Claud's 
successor;  he  became  a  magistrate  about  1824  [Lost  Illu- 
sions, 1^, 

Se'lerier,  called  the  Auvergnat,  Father  Ralleau,  the  Rou- 
leur,  and  Fil-de-Soie ;  he  belonged  to  the  aristocracy  of  the 
hulks,  and  to  the  group  of  the  "ten  thousand"  of  which 
Jacques  Collin  was  the  head.  They  became  suspicious  of 
Selerier  having  sold  Vautrin  to  the  police,  1819,  when  Bibi- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  489 

Lupin  arrested  him  at  the  Vauquer  boarding-house  [Father 
Goriot,  6r].  He  was  philosophical,  very  egotistic,  incapable 
of  love,  and  ignorant  of  friendship;  in  May,  1830,  when  a 
prisoner  in  the  Conciergerie,  he  was  on  the  point  of  being 
condemned  to  fifteen  years'  hard  labor,  when  he  saw  and 
recognized  Jacques  Collin  in  the  false  Carlos  Herrera,  who 
like  himself  was  incriminated  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\. 

Senonches,  Jacques  de,  a  noble  of  Angoul§me ;  a  great 
hunter,  tall  and  thin,  '*a  kind  of  wild  boar."  He  lived  on 
very  good  terms  with  his  wife's  lover,  Francis  du  Hautoy, 
and  was  a  frequenter  of  Mme.  de  Bargeton's  salon  [Lost 
Illusions,  iV^. 

Senonches,  Madame  Jacques  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ; 
she  had  Zephirine — Zizine  for  short — for  her  Christian  name. 
By  Francis  du  Hautoy,  her  adored  lover,  she  had  a  daughter, 
Frangoise  de  la  Haye,  whom  she  introduced  as  her  ward,  and 
who  became  Mme.  Petit-Claud  [Lost  Illusions,  3^. 

Sepherd,  Carl,  the  pseudonym  taken  by  Charles  Grandet, 
when  he  visited  .the  Indies,  the  United  States,  Africa,  etc.;  and 
also  when  he  traded  in  negroes  [Eugenie  Grandet,  JE~\. 

Serboni,  La,  the  prima  donna  at  the  Italian  Opera-house, 
London,  1839  ;  she  was  replaced  by  Luigia  [The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  X>D]. 

Serizy  or  Serisy,  Comte  Hugret  de,  born  in  1765,  a 
descendant  in  the  direct  line  of  the  noted  President  Hugret, 
ennobled  under  Frangois  I.  The  device  of  this  family  was : 
/,  semper  melius  eris^  a  motto  which  by  the  final  s  in  melius, 
the  word  eris,  and  the  /at  the  beginning  form  the  word  Serizy 
of  the  estate  which  formed  a  county  {comte).  The  son  of 
a  first  president  of  Parlement — who  died  in  1794 — Serizy 
himself  became  a  councilor  of  State  in  1787;  he  did  not 
emigrate  during  the  Revolution;  he  resided  on  his  estate  of 
Serizy,  near  Arpajon  ;  he  became  a  member  of  the  council  of 
the  Five  Hundred  and  afterward  State  counsel.  The  Empire 
made  him  a  count,  and  he  was  appointed  senator.     In  1806 


490  COMPENDIUM 

Hugret  de  Serizy  married  Leontine  de  RonqueroUes,  the 
widow  of  General  Gaubert.  This  marriage  was  brought  about 
by  his  brother-in-law,  the  Marquis  de  RonqueroUes  du  Rouvre. 
Every  honor  came  to  him  in  succession :  a  chamberlain  under 
the  Empire,  then  vice-president  of  the  Council  of  State,  peer 
of  France,  grand  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  minister  of 
State,  and  member  of  the  privy  council.  The  fame  of  Serizy, 
a  laborious  and  remarkable  man,  did  not  prevent  an  unhappy 
domestic  life.  He  worked  late  into  the  night ;  but  this  high 
functionary  was  never  able  to  conquer  his  wife's  heart,  yet 
nevertheless  he  was  her  constant  protector.  This  was  the 
cause  of  his  vengeance  on  Moreau,  the  godfather  of  Oscar 
Husson,  when  that  young  man  was  so  foolish  as  to  repeat 
what  he  had  heard  the  indiscreet  steward  of  Presles  talk  about 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\.  The  regimes  which  followed  the  Empire 
augmented  Serizy's  influence  and  renown  ;  he  was  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  Bauvans  and  Granvilles  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, «7— Honorine,  h — Modeste  Mignon,  jK^].  His  weak- 
ness for  his  wife  was  shown  in  that  he  accompanied  and 
assisted  her  when,  in  May,  1830,  she  went  to  the  Conciergerie 
with  the  intention  of  saving  her  lover,  Lucien  de  Rubempre, 
when  she  penetrated  into  that  prison  where  the  young  man 
had  committed  suicide  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y,  Zi\  The 
same  Serizy  accepted  the  position  of  executor  to  the  will  of 
the  poet  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  ^\ 

Serizy,  Comtesse  de,  nee  Leontine  de  Ronquerolles 
about  1784,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  sister  of  the  Marquis  de 
Ronquerolles;  she  first  wedded,  while  quite  young,  General 
Gaubert,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  soldiers  of  the  Republic ; 
while  still  young  she  again  married,  but  had  no  great  regard 
for  her  husband,  M.  de  Serizy,  by  whom  nevertheless  she  had 
a  son,  an  officer,  who  was  killed  in  Louis-Philippe's  reign  [A 
Start  in  Life,  s\.  Worldly  and  brilliant,  a  worthy  rival  of 
Mesdames  de  Beauseant,  de  Langeais,  de  Maufrigneuse,  de 
Carigliano,  and  d'Espard,  Leontine  de  Serizy  had  numerous 


COMJ^DIE  HUMAINE.  491 

lovers :  Auguste  de  Maulincour,  Victor  d'Aiglemont,  and 
Lucien  de  Rubempre  [The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  hh — Ursula 
Mirouet,  S — A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\  The  last  liaison 
was  the  most  disquieting.  Lucien  completely  dominated 
Mme.  de  Serizy;  he  served  her  by  hindering  the  Marquise 
d'Espard  from  obtaining  a  verdict  in  the  commission  in 
lunacy  which  she  had  brought  against  her  husband,  Marquis 
d'Espard.  During  Lucien's  detention,  and  after  his  death, 
the  Marquise  de  Serizy  suffered  the  most  intense  anguish. 
Leontine  de  Serizy  broke  one  of  the  iron  bars  in  the  Concier- 
gerie  gate,  ill-treated  the  judge  of  instruction,  Camusot,  and 
seemed  completely  crazy.  Jacques  Collin's  intervention 
saved  and  cured  her,  when  three  celebrated  physicians — 
Bianchon,  Desplein,  and  Sinard — had  declared  it  a  matter 
of  impossibility  to  soothe  her  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  i^  ^]. 
In  the  winter  the  Comtesse  de  Serizy  lived  on  the  Chaussee 
d'Antin,  and  on  her  favorite  estate  of  Serizy,  or  at  Presles,  in 
the  summer ;  sometimes  she  stayed  near  Nemours,  at  Rouvre, 
an  estate  belonging  to  a  family  of  that  name.  In  Paris  she 
was  Felicite  des  Touches'  (Camille  Maupin)  neighbor;  she 
was  a  frequent  caller  on  that  "emulant"  of  George  Sand, 
and  is  found  there  at  the  time  that  de  Marsay  recounted  the 
story  of  his  first  love ;  she  took  part  in  the  conversation 
[Another  Study  of  Woman,  V\.  Mme.  de  Serizy  was  Clemen- 
tine du  Rouvre's  maternal  aunt :  she  gave  her  a  rich  dowry 
when  she  married  Laginski  and  became  Mme.  Laginska. 
With  Ronquerolles,  her  brother,  she  saw  Thaddee  Paz,  the 
Pole,  on  the  Rue  de  la  Pepiniere  [The  Imaginary  Mis- 
tress, li\. 

Serizy,  Vicomte  de,  only  son  of  the  foregoing ;  he  left 
the  Polytechnique  in  1825  ;  by  favor  he  entered  a  regiment 
of  cavalry  in  the  Royal  Guards,  as  sub-lieutenant,  which  was 
commanded  by  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse,  and  into  which,  at 
the  same  time,  Oscar  Husson,  Cardot's  nephew,  enlisted  as  a 
private  soldier  [A  Start  in  Life,  s].     In  October,   1829,  in 


492  COMPENDIUM 

command  of  a  company  of  the  Guards,  he  had  a  mission  to 
inform  M.  de  Verneuil,  the  owner' of  a  game  preserve,  Nor- 
mandy, that  Madame  was  about  to  come  there  to  a  hunt 
organized  by  him.  Smitten  by  Diane  de  Maufrigneuse  he 
found  her  at  Verneuil's  house ;  the  future  Princesse  de  Cadig- 
nan  allowed  him  to  flirt  with  her  in  order  to  have  revenge 
upon  Leontine  de  Serizy,  who  was  at  that  time  Lucien  de 
Rubempre's  mistress  [Modeste  Mignon,  1K.\  Raised  to  the 
grade  of  lieutenant-colonel  in  a  regiment  of  cavalry  he  was 
seriously  wounded  at  the  Macta  disaster,  in  Africa,  June  26, 
1835,  and  died  at  Toulon  from  his  wounds  [The  Imaginary 
Mistress,  Ti — A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Servais,  according  to  Elie  Magus  the  only  good  gilder  in 
Paris,  and  who  listened  to  his  advice.  He  always  used  English 
gold,  which  is  far  superior  to  the  French,  in  that  art.  Like  the 
bookbinder  Thouvenin,  he  was  in  love  with  his  work  [Cousin 
Pons,  a?]. 

Servien,  Prudence,  born  in  1806,  at  Valenciennes;  the 
daughter  of  very  poor  weavers,  she  was  employed  from  seven 
years  of  age  in  a  cotton  mill ;  corrupted  while  quite  young 
through  the  place  in  which  she  worked,  she  was  a  mother  at 
thirteen.  She  was  a  witness  in  the  Assize  Court  against  Jean- 
Frangois  Durut ;  he  became  her  redoubtable  enemy,  and  she 
fell  into  dependence  upon  Jacques  Collin,  who  promised  to 
forestall  the  convict's  malice.  She  had  once  a  good  figure, 
and  afterward  served  Esther  van  Gobseck,  in  Paris,  as  a 
chambermaid ;  she  was  Paccard's  mistress,  and  afterward 
doubtlessly  married  him ;  she  assisted  Vautrin  in  exploiting 
Nucingen ;  she  stole  a  large  sum  of  money  from  Mile.  Gob- 
seck, after  her  death,  but  afterward  replaced  it  through  Mme. 
Nourrisson,  who  kept  a  house  of  ill-fame  on  the  Rue  Sainte- 
Barbe  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y^  Z\ 

Servin,  a  distinguished  painter,  born  about  1775;  the 
husband  by  inclination  of  the  daughter  of  a  general  without 
fortune;  in   1815,  at  Paris,  he  was  the  director  of  a  studio 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  493 

attended  by  Mile.  Laure  and  Mesdemoiselles  Mathilde-Melanie 
Roguin,  Amelie  Thirion,  and  Ginevra  di  Piombo,  who  later 
became  Mesdames  Tiphaine,  Camusot  de  Marville,  and  Porta. 
Servin  at  that  time  hid  an  outlaw  who  was  sought  by  the 
police,  one  Luigi  Porta,  who  presently  married  the  master's 
favorite  pupil,  Mile.  Ginevra  di  Piombo  [The  Vendetta,  i\ 

Servin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  she  remembered 
that  the  romantic  loves  of  Porta  and  Ginevra  had  depopulated 
her  husband's  studio  of  its  students;  she  repulsed  Mile,  di 
Piombo  after  she  had  been  driven  from  beneath  the  paternal 
roof  [The  Vendetta,  t]. 

Severac,  De,  born  in  1764;  a  country  gentleman,  mayor 
of  a  village  in  the  canton  of  Angouleme ;  the  author  of  a 
study  on  silk  worms,  which  was  received  in  Mme.  de  Barge- 
ton's  salon,  in  1821.  A  widower  without  children,  and  with- 
out doubt  very  wealthy,  but  unused  to  society.  He  is  found 
one  evening  in  a  salon  on  the  Rue  du  Minage,*  having  as 
auditors  none  other  than  the  complaisant,  noble  but  poor, 
Mme.  du  Brossard  and  her  daughter,  Camille,  aged  twenty- 
seven  [Lost  Illusions,  iV]. 

Sibilet,  a  clerk  to  the  court  at  Ville-aux-Fayes ;  a  distant 
cousin  of  Frangois  Gaubertin  ;  he  married  a  Gaubertin-Vallat, 
and  by  that  marriage  had  six  children  [The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Sibilet,  Adolphe,  the  eldest  of  the  foregoing's  six  children  ; 
born  about  1 793  ;  was  first  clerk  to  a  notary,  and  later  a  paltry 
employe  of  the  property  registrar;  about  the  end  of  181 7  he 
succeeded  his  distant  cousin,  Fran9ois  Gaubertin,  as  steward 
of  the  Aigues,  the  property  of  Montcornet.  Sibilet  married 
Mile.  Adeline  Sarcus  (of  the  poor  branch),  who  made  him  a 
father  twice  in  three  years ;  his  interest  in  his  master's  con- 
cerns were  turned  to  assist  the  rancor  of  his  predecessor,  and 
he  was  a  traitor  to  Montcornet  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Sibilet,  Madame  Adolphe,  nee  Adeline  Sarcus,  wife  of 
the  foregoing ;  she  was  the  only  daughter  of  justice  of  the 

*  Which  remains  far  from  being  an  aristocratic  neighborhood. 


494  COMPENDIUM 

peace  Sarcus;  her  whole  fortune  was  her  beauty;  she  was 
brought  up  most  carefully  by  her  mother  in  the  little  town  of 
Soulanges.  Not  having  married  Araaury  Lupin,  the  son  of 
notary  Lupin,  with  whom  she  was  smitten,  and  after  losing 
her  mother,  she  three  years  later  allowed  her  father,  out  of 
despair,  to  marry  her  to  the  ungraceful  and  disagreeable 
Adolphe  Sibilet  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Sibilet,  son  of  the  clerk,  was  a  commissary  of  police  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  1821  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

Sibilet,  Mademoiselle,  a  daughter  of  the  clerk,  she  be- 
came Mme.  Herve  [The  Peasantry,  'K\. 

Sibilet,  a  son  of  the  clerk ;  was  the  head  clerk  to  Maitre 
Corbinet,  a  notary  at  Ville-aux-Fayes,  and  his  designated  suc- 
cessor [The  Peasantry,  _K]. 

Sibilet,  a  son  of  the  clerk ;  an  employ^  on  the  estates  near 
by ;  he  was  presumably  the  successor  to  the  recording  clerk 
at  Ville-aux-Fayes  [The  Peasantry,  JR]. 

Sibilet,  Mademoiselle,  a  daughter  of  the  clerk ;  born  about 
1807;  she  was  postmistress  at  Ville-aux-Fayes;  she  was 
promised  to  Captain  Corbinet,  the  notary's  brother  [The 
Peasantry,  JK]. 

Sibuelle,  a  rich  and  somewhat  blemished  contractor,  in 
the  times  of  the  Directory  and  the  Consulate;  he  gave  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  Malin  de  Gondreville,  and,  by  his 
son-in-law's  favor,  became  co-receiver-general  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  Aube  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Sibuelle,  Mademoiselle,  the  only  daughter  of  the  fore- 
going ;  she  became  Mme.  Malin  de  Gondreville  [A  Historical 
Mystery,  ff\ 

Sieyes,  Emmanuel- Joseph,  born  in  1748  at  Frejus;  died 
at  Paris  in  1836  ;  he  was  successively  vicar-general  of  Chartres, 
a  deputy  to  the  States  General  and  the  Convention  ;  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  public  safety ;  a  member  of  the  Five  Hun- 
dred and  the  Directory;  a  consul  and  a  senator;  he  was  well 
known  as  a  publicist.     He  assisted  and  took  part  in  the  work 


COMADIE   HUMAINE.  495 

of  the  ministry  for  Foreign  Affairs,  on  the  Rue  du  Bac,*  June, 
1800,  together  with  Talleyrand  and  Fouche,  when  they  con- 
sulted and  meditated  upon  overthrowing  the  First  Consul, 
Bonaparte  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Signol,  Henriette  ;  a  handsome  girl ;  of  a  good  family 
of  husbandmen ;  she  was  a  workwoman  in  the  laundry  be- 
longing to  Basine  Clerget,  at  Angouleme.  She  was  Cerizet's 
mistress;  she  believed  in  him  and  worked  against  David 
Sechard,  the  printer  [Lost  Illusions,  lf\ 

Simeuse,  Admiral  de,  the  father  of  Jean  de  Simeuse; 
was  one  of  the  most  eminent  commanders  in  the  French  navy 
of  the  eighteenth  century  [The  Old  Maid,  aa — Beatrix,  _P— 
A  Historical  Mystery,  ff^. 

Simeuse,  Marquis  Jean  de,  of  whom  the  name  Cy 
MEURS  or  Si  meurs,  was  the  noble  motto;  he  was  the 
descendant  of  a  great  house  of  Boulonge ;  he  became  the 
owner  of  a  Lorraine  fief  called  Ximeuse,  which  became  cor- 
rupted into  Simeuse.  M.  de  Simeuse  counted  a  number  of 
illustrious  names;  he  married  Berthe  de  Cinq-Cygne;  by  her 
he  became  the  father  of  twin  boys — Paul-Marie  and  Marie- 
Paul.  He  was  guillotined,  under  the  Terror,  at  Troyes. 
Michu's  father-in-law  presided  over  the  Revolutionary  tribunal 
that  sentenced  him  to  death  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Simeuse,  Marquise  de,  nee  Berthe  de  Cinq-Cygne, 
wife  of  the  foregoing.  She  was  executed  at  Troyes,  at  the 
same  time  as  her  husband  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Simeuse,  Paul-Marie  and  Marie-Paul,  twin  brothers, 
sons  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  1773;  the  grandsons,  on  the 
maternal  side,  of  the  admiral  who  was  no  less  celebrated  for 
his  dissipations  than  his  valor ;  descendants  of  the  first  owners 
of  the  famous  estate  of  Gondreville,  in  the  Aube,  and  belong- 
ing to  the  noblest  family  of  Champagne — the  Chargeboeufs,  of 
which  their  mother,  Berthe  de  Cinq-Cygne,  represented  the 

*  This  ministry  has  been  successively  transported  to  the  Boulevard  des 
Capucines  and  the  Quai  d'Orsy,  where  it  is  now  situated. 


496  COMPENDIUM 

younger  branch.  Paul-Marie  and  Marie-Paul  were  both  emi- 
grants. They  reappeared  in  France  about  1803.  They 
both  loved  their  cousin,  Laurence  de  Cinq-Cygne,  a  fervent 
Royalist ;  they  allowed  chance  to  decide  who  should  become 
her  husband ;  chance  favored  Marie-Paul,  that  is  to  say  the 
younger  twin,  but  events  did  not  permit  the  consummation  of 
the  marriage.  The  twins  differed  neither  physically  nor 
morally,  save  in  one  single  point :  Paul-Marie  was  melan- 
choly ;  Marie-Paul  was  gay.  Despite  the  advice  of  their  old 
relative,  M.  de  Chargeboeuf,  the  Simeuses,  with  the  Hauteser- 
res,  compromised  themselves ;  they  were  placed  under  surveil- 
lance by  Fouche,  who  sent  Peyrade  and  Corentin  to  entrap 
them.  They  were  accused,  with  Michu,  of  abducting  Malin ; 
they  were  tried  for  that  offense,  and,  although  innocent,  were 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  twenty-four  years  at  hard  labor: 
afterward  they  were  pardoned  by  Napoleon  and  sent,  as  sub- 
lieutenants, to  the  same  cavalry  regiment ;  they  were  both 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Sommo-Sierra,  near  Madrid,  November 
30,  1808  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Simonin,  a  hirer-out  of  carriages,  Cour  des  Coches,  Paris; 
about  1840  he  rented  a  berlin  to  Mme.  de  Godollo,  who  pre- 
tended she  was  about  going  a  journey;  this  was  done  by 
Corentin's  instructions ;  as  a  fact,  she  did  not  go  farther  than 
the  Bois  de  Boulogne  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Simmonin  was,  under  Louis  XVIIL,  at  Paris,  Rue  Vi- 
vienne,  the  "gutter  jumper,"  or  errand-boy,  in  Maitre  Der- 
ville's  office,  when  that  attorney  received  Hyacinthe-Chabert 
[Colonel  Chabert,  t]. 

Sinard,  a  physician  at  Paris,  called  in.  May,  1830,  to- 
gether with  Desplein  and  Bianchon,  to  attend  Leontine  de 
Serizy,  who  had  become  crazy  after  her  lover's,  Lucien  de 
Rubempr^,  tragic  end  [Vautrin's  Last  Avatar,  z\. 

Sinet,  Seraphine,  a  noted  lorette,  born  in  1820;  she  was 
known  by  the  sobriquet  of  Carabine;  in  1839  she  assisted  at 
Jos^pha's  inaugural  festival,  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEv6que, 


CO  Mi.  DIE   HUMAINE.  497 

Five  years  later  she  was  the  wealthy  du  Tillet's  mistress,  who 
kept  her  for  a  long  time.  Mile.  Sinet  replaced  the  sprightly 
Marguerite  Turquet  as  queen  of  the  lorettes  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 
A  handsome  woman,  she  led  the  march  at  the  opera,  and  re- 
sided on  the  Rue  Saint-Georges,  in  the  splendid  suite  of  rooms 
where  were  successively  enthroned  Suzanne  du  Val-Noble, 
Esther  van  Gobseck,  Florine,  and  Mme.  Schontz.  Of  a  lively 
turn  of  mind,  cavalier  manners,  and  brilliant  shamelessness, 
Carabine  received  much  and  of  the  best.  At  all  times  her 
table  was  magnificently  appointed,  and  had  always  ten  covers 
laid.  Artists,  men  of  letters,  and  people  of  the  world  frequented 
her  house.  S.  P.  Gazonal  was  taken  there,  1845,  ^7  Leon  de 
Lora  and  Bixiou,  accompanied  by  Jenny  Cadine,  of  the  Gyra- 
nase,  and  there  saw  Massol,  Claud  Vignon,  Maxime  de  Trailles, 
Nucingen,  F.  du  Bruel,  Malaga,  M.  and  Mme.  Gaillard,  and 
Vauvinet,  together  with  a  crowd  of  other  persons,  not  to  omit 
F.  du  Tillet  himself  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  l^]. 

Sinot,  an  attorney  at  Arcis-sur-Aube ;  in  1839  he  was  con- 
cerned in  the  election  of  a  deputy  for  the  department,  and  in 
that  town,  to  replace  M.   Francois  Keller  [The  Deputy  for 

Arcis,  jyjyi 

Socquard  was,  under  the  Empire  and  Restoration,  a  drink- 
mixer  {limonadier)  at  the  Cafe  de  la  Paix,  Soulanges.  He 
was  a  small,  fat  man,  of  a  placid  countenance,  and  possessed 
a  little,  thin,  stringy,  limpid  voice.  He  managed  the  hall  in 
which  the  balls  were  held,  which  was  an  annex  of  the  caf(6- 
Vermichel  was  violinist  and  Fourchon  played  the  clarionet; 
these  formed  the  orchestra.  Plissoud,  Bonnebault,  Viallet, 
and  Amaury  Lupin  frequented  the  place,  which  was  for  a  long 
time  noted  for  its  billiards,  punch,  and  spiced  wine.  In  1823 
Socquard  was  a  widower  [The  Peasantry,  _B]. 

Socquard,  Madame   Junie,  wife  of  the  foregoing;    she 

counted  a  number  of  gallant  adventures  under  the  Empire. 

She  was  a  most  beautiful  woman,  and  her  luxury  contributed 

to  the  fame  of  Soulanges,  and  was  celebrated  through  the 

32 


498  COMPENDIUM 

whole  valley.  Notary  Lupin  made  a  fool  of  himself  for  her ; 
Gaubertin,  who  kept  her,  was  certain  that  the  natural  son, 
little  Bournier,  that  she  bore  was  his  child.  Junie  made  the 
success  of  the  Socquard  establishment.  She  carried  to  her 
husband  a  property  which  consisted  of  a  vineyard,  the  house 
in  which  they  lived,  and  the  Tivoli.  She  died  in  Louis 
XVIIL's  reign  [The  Peasantry,  J^\ 

Socquard,  Aglae,  daughter  of  the  foregoing,  born  in 
1 80 1.  From  her  father  she  took  an  absurd  embonpoint. 
Sought  after  by  Bonnebault,  who  was  by  her  father  con- 
sidered all  right  as  a  customer,  but  not  quite  good  enough  to 
be  his  son-in-law,  she  excited  Marie  Tonsard's  jealousy,  who 
did  her  utmost  to  part  them  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Soderini,  Prince,  father  of  Mme.  d'Argaiolo,  who  after- 
ward became  Duchesse  de  Rhetore,  Besangon,  1834;  he  re- 
claimed from  Albert  Savarus  his  daughter's  letters  and  por- 
trait. His  sudden  arrival  and  precipitate  leaving  of  the  chief 
place  in  Doubs  to  Savarus,  who  was  a  candidate  for  deputy, 
was  owing  to  his  ignorance  of  the  approaching  second  mar- 
riage of  Mme.  d'ArgaVolo  [Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Solis,  Abbe  de,  born  about  1733;  a  dominician  andahe 
grand peniiencier  of  Toledo,  vicar-general  of  the  arch-bishopric 
of  Malines ;  a  good,  great,  and  venerable  priest.  He  received 
and  adopted  his  brother's  son,  Emmanuel  de  Solis,  and,  re- 
tired at  Douai,  knew  and  protected  the  Casa-Reals;  he  con- 
fessed and  was  the  spiritual  director  of  their  last  descendant, 
Mme.  Balthazar  Claes.  Abb6  de  Solis  died  December,  1818 
[The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  !>]. 

Solis,  Emmanuel  de,  the  nephew  and  adopted  son  of  the 
foregoing.  He  was  poor,  and  of  a  family  that  originated  in 
Grenada  ;  he  profited  well  by  his  education  which  he  received 
at  the  Douai  school,  in  which  he  later  became  a  professor  and 
gave  lessons  to  the  two  brothers  of  Marguerite  Claes,  who  was 
the  eldest  child,  and  whom  he  loved.  He  married  her  in 
1825 ;   he  soon  after  this  inherited  the  title  of  Comte  de 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  499 

Nourno,  which  was  an  appendage  of  the  house  of  Solis  [The 
Quest  of  the.  Absolute,  !>]. 

Solis,  Madame  Emmanuel  de,  nee  Marguerite  Claes  in 
1796;  wife  of  the  foregoing,  eldest  sister  of  Mme.  Felicie 
Pierquin,  whose  husband  had  once  sought  her  hand ;  her 
dying  mother  gave  her  instructions  to  constantly  struggle 
against  the  notions  of  her  father,  the  inventor ;  she  conformed 
to  the  maternal  directions,  and  was  able,  owing  to  her  rare 
energy,  to  reestablish  the  fortunes  of  her  family,  which  were 
more  than  compromised.  Mme.  de  Solis  was  confined  of  a 
child  during  a  journey  in  Spain  whither  she  had  gone  to  visit 
Casa-Real,  the  cradle  of  her  maternal  family  [The  Quest  of 
the  Absolute,  D]. 

Solonet,  born  in  1795;  ^^  obtained  the  decoration  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor  for  having  actually  contributed  to  the 
second  reentry  of  the  Bourbons;  was  the  young  notary  to 
the  society  of  Bordeaux ;  he  triumphed  in  the  drafting  of  the 
marriage  settlement  of  Natalie  Evangelista  with  Paul  de 
Manerville  against  the  resistance  of  his  colleague  Mathias, 
who  defended  Manerville's  interests.  Solonet  served  with  an 
impressment  of  passion,  not  sought  for  or  returned,  Mme. 
Evangelista,  whose  hand  he  vainly  demanded  [A  Marriage 
Settlement,  aa\. 

Solvet,  a  young  man  with  a  pretty  face,  a  gambler  and 
vicious;  Caroline  Crochard  de  Bellefeuille's  lover  and  pre- 
ferred by  her  to  M.  de  Granville,  her  generous  protector. 
Solvet  made  Mile.  Crochard  very  unhappy ;  he  ruined  her 
and  still  she  worshiped  him.  Made  known  of  her  circum- 
stances by  Bianchon,  Comte  de  Granville,  who  had  met  him 
one  evening  near  the  Rue  Gaillon,  under  Louis-Philippe, 
refused  to  assist  her  [A  Second  Home,  z\. 

Sommervieux,  Theodore  de,  a  painter  who  had  won 
the  prize  of  Rome ;  chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor ;  he  was 
particularly  successful  in  interiors,  excelling  in  the  effects  of 
light  and  shadow  (clair-obscur)  of  the  Dutch  school.     With 


500  COMPENDIUM 

much  talent  he  reproduced  the  interior  of  the  "  Cat  and 
Racket,"  Rue  Saint-Denis;  he  exhibited  it  at  the  Salon;  at 
the  same  time  he  ravished  the  portrait  of  his  future  wife,  Mile. 
Guillaume,  who  was  foolishly  smitten  by  him  and  whom  he 
married  about  1808,  nearly  against  the  wish  of  her  parents, 
thanks  to  the  good  offices  of  Mme.  Roguin,  with  whom  he 
was  intimate  in  society.  The  marriage  was  not  a  happy  one ; 
the  daughter  of  the  Guillaumes  worshiped  her  husband  with- 
out understanding  him.  The  painter  frequently  absented 
himself  from  his  apartments  on  the  Rue  des  Trois-Freres — a 
part  of  the  real  Rue  Taitbout — and  offered  his  homage  in  the 
faubourg  Saint-Germain,  at  the  shrine  of  the  Marechale  de 
Carigliano,  He  had  an  income  of  twelve  thousand  francs ; 
his  father  before  the  Revolution  was  called  Chevalier  de 
Sommervieux  [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  f].  Theo- 
dore de  Sommervieux  designed  a  monstrance  for  Gohier, 
the  King's  goldsmith  ;  this  sacred  vessel  was  purchased  by 
Mme.  Baudoyer  and  given  to  St.  Paul's  Church  at  the  time 
of  the  death  of  F.  de  La  Billardiere,  the  chief  of  a  division  in 
the  Bureau  of  Finance,  to  whose  place  she  wished  her  husband 
to  succeed  [Les  Employes,  cc].  Sommervieux  also  made 
the  vignettes  for  Canalis'  works  [Modeste  Mignon,  JEC]. 

Sommervieux,  Madame  Theodore  de,  nee  Augustine 
Guillaume,  about  1792,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the  second 
daughter  of  the  Guillaumes  of  the  "  Cat  and  Racket,"  a  dry 
goods  establishment,  Rue  Saint-Denis,  Paris ;  she  had  a  hard 
life,  for  her  family,  Mme.  Roguin  alone  excepted,  could  in  no 
way  understand  her  aspirations  to  a  higher  ideal,  nor  could 
they  feel  satisfied  at  her  choice  of  Theodore  de  Sommervieux. 
Mile.  Guillaume  was  married,  about  the  middle  of  the  Empire, 
at  her  parish  church  of  Saint-Leu,  the  same  day  and  immedi- 
ately after  the  union  of  her  eldest  sister  to  her  father's  clerk, 
Lebas.  Of  rather  less  common  instincts  than  her  relatives 
and  their  surroundings,  but  still  insignificant  enough,  she 
insensibly  drove  away  from  her  husband's  study  Schinner, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  501 

Bridau,  Bixiou,  Lora,  Seul,  and  Grassou ;  she  was  so  very 
"middle-class"  that  she  could  not  understand  their  ver- 
nacular. Her  heart  was  broken  by  her  husband  deserting  her 
for  the  society  of  Mme.  de  Carigliano;  she  went  to  take 
counsel  from  her  rival,  but  she  was  unable  to  use  the  arms 
with  which  she  furnished  her ;  she  died  of  grief  shortly  after 
the  famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer,  Cesar  Birotteau,  on 
the  Rue  Saint-Honore.  She  was  buried  in  Monmartre  ceme- 
tery [At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t — Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O]. 

Sonet,  a  dealer  in  funeral  monuments  and  marble,  Paris, 
under  the  Restoration  and  Louis-Philippe.  When  Pons  died 
the  tombstone  speculator  sent  his  drummer  to  Schmucke  with 
instructions  to  obtain  an  order  from  him  for  two  statues  of 
"Art  and  Friendship"  united  in  one  group.  Sonet  had  as 
a  partner  in  his  business  the  designer  Vitelot.  The  real  title 
of  the  firm  was  Sonet  &  Co.  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Sonet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  was  very  impressive 
with  and  cared  tenderly  for  Schmucke  when  he  visited  Pere- 
Lachaise,  broken  with  emotion,  in  April,  1845  'y  she  pro- 
posed, with  some  modifications,  that  an  allegorical  tombstone 
should  be  purchased  by  him  to  place  over  Pons'  resting-place, 
one  that  had  been  previously  rejected  by  the  Marsay  and 
Keller  families ;  who  had  preferred  to  address  themselves  to  a 
real  artist — the  sculptor  Stidmann  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Sophie,  an  emulator  and  of  the  same  name  as  the  famous 
Sophie  the  "blue  ribbon"  cook  to  Dr.  Veron,  and  her  con- 
temporary; was,  about  1844,  on  the  Rue  Basse-du-Rempart, 
Paris,  cook  to  Comte  Popinot.  She  must  have  been  a  re- 
markable culinary  artist,  for  Sylvain  Pons,  reduced,  by  reason 
of  his  quarrel  with  the  Camusots,  to  dine  in  his  own  rooms, 
on  the  Rue  de  Normandie,  would  often  cry  out  in  an  excess 
of  melancholy:    "Oh!  Sophie"  [Cousin  Pons,  05]. 

Sorbier,  a  Parisian  notary,  to  whom  Chesnel  (or  Choisnel) 
wrote  from  Normandy  in  1822,  recommending  and  requesting 


502  COMPENDIUM 

him  to  look  after  Victurnien  d'Esgrignon's  interests.  Un- 
fortunately Sorbier  was  dead,  and  the  letter  was  delivered  to 
his  widow  [The  Collection  of  Antiquities,  a(i\. 

Sorbier,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  was  men- 
tioned in  the  letter  sent  by  Chesnel,  dated  in  1822,  introduc- 
ing Victurnien  d'Esgrignon.  She  simply  replied  to  the  mis- 
sive by  turning  it  over  to  her  late  husband's  successor,  Maitre 
Cardot.  All  unconsciously  the  widow  thus  served  du  Bous- 
quier  (du  Croisier),  the  d'Esgrignons'  adversaries  [The  Col- 
lection of  Antiquities,  aa\. 

Soria,  Don  Fernand,  Due  de,  the  younger  brother  of 
Don  Felipe  de  Macumer,  weighed  down  by  his  eldest  brother's 
bounty,  by  his  voluntary  abandoning  to  him  the  Duchy  of 
Soria,  and  also  the  hand  of  Marie  Heredia.  Soria  was  not  in 
the  least  ungrateful ;  he  suffered  deeply  for  his  brother,  de 
Macumer,  1829.  On  his  death  he  became  Fernand  Baron  de 
Macumer  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  -v]. 

Soria,  Duchesse  de,  nee  Marie  Heredia,  wife  of  the 
foregoing ;  the  daughter  of  the  wealthy  Comte  Heredia ;  she 
was  beloved  by  both  brothers :  Don  Fernand,  Due  de  Soria, 
and  Don  Felipe  de  Macumer.  It  was  intended  that  she  should 
marry  the  latter,  but  instead,  following  the  dictates  of  her 
heart,  she  married  the  former.  Baron  de  Macumer  having 
generously  renounced  her  hand  in  favor  of  Don  Fernand. 
The  duchess  preserved  a  lively  memory  of  his  devotion,  and 
later  was  seen  carefully  attending  him  on  his  death-bed,  1829 
[Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\. 

Sormano,  the  "savage"  servant  of  the  ArgaYolos*  in 
their  exile  in  Switzerland.  A  feminine  appearing  personage 
under  the  name  of  Gina,  in  the  autobiographical  novel  by 
Albert  Savarus,  entitled  :  **  L'Ambitieux  par  amour  "  [Albert 
Savaron,  jf]. 

Souchet,   a  stockbroker  at  Paris,   whose   failure   ruined 

*  Written  also  without  the  diaeresis  I. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE  503 

Guillaume  Grandet,  brother  of  the  noted  cooper  at  Saumur 
[Eugenie  Grandet,  J^]. 

Souchet,  Francois,  took  tlie  prize  of  Rome  for  sculpture 
about  the  beginning  of  Louis  XVIII. 's  reign ;  he  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Hippolyte  Schinner;  he  received  his  confi- 
dential relation  of  his  love  for  Adelaide  Leseigneur  de  Rou- 
ville,  and  rallied  him  about  it  [The  Purse,  p\.  About  1835, 
together  with  Steinbock,  Souchet  painted  the  decorations  over 
the  doors  and  fireplaces  in  the  sumptuous  mansion  of  the  La- 
ginskis,  Rue  de  la  Pepiniere,  Paris  [The  Imaginary  Mis- 
tress, /l].  To  Florine,  afterward  Mme.  Raoul  Nathan,  he 
presented  a  plaster  group  representing  an  angel  holding  a 
holy  water  basin,  which,  in  1834,  ornamented  the  actress' 
fastidious  apartments  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  V\ 

Soudry,  born  in  1773;  a  quartermaster  in  the  artillery; 
he  protected  M.  de  Soulanges,  who  was  at  that  time  adjutant- 
general,  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  He  became  a  corporal  of 
gendarmes  at  Soulanges,  and,  in  1815,  married  Mile.  Cochet, 
formerly  chambermaid  to  Sophie  Laguerre.  Six  years  later 
he  was  retired  on  Montcornet's  request,  being  replaced  by 
Viallet ;  but,  supported  by  Gaubertin's  influence,  he  was  ap- 
pointed mayor  of  Soulanges,  and  became  an  avowed  and 
determined  enemy  to  Montcornet.  Like  Gregoire  Rigou, 
his  son's  father-in-law,  the  old  gendarme  had  a  mistress  under 
the  conjugal  roof  in  the  person  of  his  servant  Jeannette,  who 
was  much  younger  than  Mme.  Soudry  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Soudry,  Madame,  nke  Cochet  in  1763,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going. She  had  been  chambermaid  to  Sophie  Laguerre,  who 
had  owned  the  Aigues  previous  to  Montcornet,  at  the  time 
Gaubertin  was  the  steward,  and  who  exploited  the  ex-opera 
singer.  Twenty  years  after  the  burial  of  her  mistress  la 
Cochet  married  Corporal  Soudry,  her  lover,  a  fine  man,  though 
pitted  with  smallpox.  Under  Louis  XVIII.  Mme.  Soudry 
tried,  though  with  but  poor  success,  to  copy  the  deceased 
Sophie  Laguerre ;  she  enthroned  herself  in  the  midst  of  the 


504  COMPENDIUM 

first  society  in  Soulanges;  her  salon  was  frequented  by  Mont- 
cornet's  adversaries  [Tlie  Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Soudry,  the  natural  son  of  Soudry,  corporal  of  gendarmes ; 
his  birth  was  legitimized  after  the  marriage  of  his  father  to 
Mile.  Cochet  in  1815.  On  the  day  that  Soudry  officially 
acquired  a  mother  he  at  once  made  his  way  to  Paris.  He 
there  knew  Gaubertin's  son ;  during  his  sojourn  in  that  city 
he  became  a  barrister  and  was  afterward  a  judge  ;  but  he  re- 
turned to  Burgundy  in  order  to  engage  in  practice  as  an 
attorney,  for  which  his  father  paid  thirty  thousand  francs. 
Soudry  soon  found  himself  substitute  to  the  King's  procureur 
in  the  department  of  Burgundy,  and,  about  181 7,  public 
prosecutor  under  the  orders  of  the  attorney-general  Bourlac, 
whom  indeed  he  replaced  in  1821,  thanks  to  Francois 
Gaubertin's  favor.  He  then  married  Mile.  Rigou  [The 
Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Soudry  (young),  Madame,  nee  Arsene  Rigou,  wife  of  the 
foregoing ;  only  daughter  of  the  wealthy  Gregoire  Rigou  and 
Arsene  Rigou;  she  recalled  her  father  by  her  cunning,  sullen 
nature,  and  her  mother  by  her  beauty  [The  Peasantry,  JS]. 

Soulanges,  Comte  Leon  de,  born  in  1777,  was  colonel 
of  the  artillery  of  the  Guards  in  1800.  In  the  month  of 
November  of  that  year  he  is  found  with  Malin  de  Gondreville 
at  his  mansion,  Paris,  on  the  evening  on  which  he  gave  a 
grand  festival ;  he  there  met  Montcornet,  the  friend  of  his 
regiment,  and  Mme.  de  Vaudremont,  who  had  once  been  his 
mistress,  accompanied  by  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon,  her  new 
lover;  in  order  that  his  deserted  wife,  Mme.  de  Soulanges, 
who  had  ceased  attending  society  events,  but  had  been  drawn 
to  the  senator's  by  Mme.  de  Lansac  with  the  view  of  effect- 
ing a  perfect  reconciliation  between  the  husband  and  wife 
[Peace  in  the  House,  J].  Leon  de  Soulanges  had  numerous 
children  by  his  wife ;  one  son  and  a  number  of  daughters ; 
he  refused,  on  account  of  her  youth,  one  of  the  latter  to 
become  Montcornet's  wife ;  he  made  an  enemy  of  the  general 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  505 

by  this.  The  count  remained  faithful  to  the  Bourbons  during 
the  Hundred  Days ;  he  was  made  a  peer  of  France  and  be- 
came general  of  artillery.  Distinguished  by  the  Due  d'An- 
goulgme,  he  was  made  commander  during  the  Spanish  war  of 
1823,  and  was  remarked  at  the  siege  of  Cadiz  as  having 
attained  the  highest  grades  in  the  military  hierarchy.  M.  de 
Soulanges,  who  was  enormously  rich,  owned  a  vast  estate  in 
Blangy  commune,  Burgundy,  beside  a  forest  and  a  castle 
contiguous  to  the  Aigues,  an  estate  which  in  former  times  had 
belonged  to  the  Soulanges ;  in  the  days  of  the  Crusaders  an 
ancestor  of  the  count  had  created  that  demesne.  Like  his 
neighbor,  M.  de  RonqueroUes,  he  received  evil  reports  of 
Montcornet,  and  seemed  to  support  Fran9ois  Gaubertin, 
Gregoire  Rigou,  and  Soudry,  who  were  the  future  marechal's 
adversaries  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Soulanges,  Comtesse  Hortense  de,  wife  of  the  fore- 
going, niece  of  the  Duchesses  de  Lansac  and  de  Marigny.  In 
November,  1809,  at  a  ball  given  by  Malin  de  Gondreville, 
advised  by  Madame  de  Lansac,  the  countess  (who  was  at  that 
time  on  bad  terms  with  her  husband)  triumphed  over  her 
proud  timidity  and  charmed  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon  out 
of  a  valuable  ring  which  had  once  been  given  her  by  her 
husband ;  de  Soulanges  had  passed  it  to  Mme.  de  Vaudre- 
mont,  his  mistress,  who  in  turn  had  given  it  to  Roche-Hugon  ; 
this  restitution  brought  about  the  reconciliation  of  the  house- 
hold [Peace  in  the  House,  j\.  Hortense  de  Soulanges 
received  as  an  inheritance  from  Mme.  de  Marigny,  who  died 
about  1820,  the  estate  of  Guebriant  on  a  life  tenure  [The 
Duchesse  de  Langlais,  hh\  Mme.  de  Soulanges  followed  her 
husband  in  Spain  during  the  war  of  1823  [The  Peasantry,  J2]. 

Soulanges,  Amelie  de,  the  youngest  daughter  of  the  fore- 
going; she  would  have  married  Comte  Philippe  de  Bram- 
bourg,  in  1828,  only  for  the  disastrous  revelations  furnished 
by  Bixiou  about  Joseph  Bridau's  brother  [A  Bachelor's  Estat> 
lishment,  J\ 


606  COMPENDIUM 

Soulanges,  Vicomte  de,  without  doubt  the  brother  of  the 
foregoing;  in  1836  he  was  captain  of  a  squad  of  hussars  at 
Fontainebleau ;  with  Maxima  de  Trailles,  he  was  Savinien  de 
Portenduere's  second  in  the  duel  arranged  with  Desire  Mi- 
noret,  but  which  was  prevented  by  the  death  of  the  latter; 
the  cause  of  the  trouble  between  the  young  men  was  the  infa- 
mous proceedings  of  the  Minoret-Levraults  against  Ursule 
Mirouet,  the  future  Comtesse  de  Portenduere  [Ursule  Mi- 
rouet,  H.\ 

Soulas,  Amedee-Sylvain- Jacques  de,  born  in  1809 ;  a 
gentleman  of  Besangon,  of  Spanish  origin.  (At  the  time 
Franche-Comte  belonged  to  Spain,  the  name  was  written : 
Souleyas.)  He  is  found  shining  brilliantly  in  the  chief  place 
in  the  Doubs,  with  an  income  of  forty  thousand  francs,  which 
allowed  him  to  secure  the  services  of  **the  tiger  Baby  las." 
A  disagreement  between  his  fortune  and  manner  of  life  is 
shown  in  the  character  of  this  person ;  he  vainly  sought  the 
hand  of  Rosalie  de  Watteville,  but  married  her  mother,  Mme. 
de  Watteville,  who  had  become  a  widow,  about  August,  1837 
[Albert  Savaron,  /]. 

Soulas,  Madame  Amedee  de,  nh  Clotilde-Louise  de 
RuPT,  in  1798;  traits  and  character:  inflexible,  hard,  light- 
complexioned,  indeed  an  ardent  blonde;  in  1815  she  married 
Baron  de  Watteville,  of  whom  she  easily  became  the  governor. 
She  also  dominated  her  daughter  Rosalie  with  equal  facility, 
but  tried  uselessly  to  make  her  marry  M.  de  Soulas.  Albert 
Savarus'  presence  at  Besangon  (he  was  secretly  loved  by  Mile, 
de  Watteville)  gave  a  political  color  to  the  Wattevilles'  salons, 
under  Louis-Philippe.  Weary  of  her  daughter's  obstinacy, 
Mme.  de  Watteville,  become  a  widow,  married  M.  de  Soulas 
herself;  she  lived  at  Paris  during  the  winter  months,  and  re- 
mained the  mistress  of  the  household  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Sparchmann,  a  surgeon  in  Heilsberg  hospital;  he  cared 
for  Colonel  Chabert  after  the  battle  of  Eylau  [Colonel  Cha- 
bert,  i]. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  607 

Spencer,  Lord,  an  Englishman,  about  1830  bought  at  a 
fair  price,  from  Balthazar  Claes,  the  magnificent  wood  carvings 
by  Van  Huysum ;  also  the  portrait  of  President  van  Claes,  of 
Flanders,  in  the  sixteenth  century — family  treasures  of  which 
the  father  of  Mesdames  de  Solis  and  Pierquin  tried  to  stop  the 
sale  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  J)]. 

Spieghalter,  a  German  mechanic  living  in  Paris,  Rue  de 
la  Sante,  at  the  beginning  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign.  He 
vainly  tried,  by  the  most  powerful  compression,  hammering, 
and  rolling,  to  extend  or  stretch  the  singular  Wild  Ass* 
Skin,  which  had  been  submitted  to  him  by  Raphael  de  Val- 
entin, by  an  introduction  from  Planchette,  a  professor  of  me- 
chanics [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  ^]. 

Sponde,  Abbe  de,  born  about  1746;  was  grand  vicar  to 
the  bishop  of  Seez.  The  maternal  uncle,  guardian,  guest,  and 
boarder  of  Mile.  Rose-Victoire  du  Bousquier  {nee  Cormon), 
Alen^on ;  he  died  in  1819,  nearly  blind,  and  singularly  un- 
happy through  his  niece's  recent  marriage.  Entirely  detached 
from  worldly  interests,  he  lived  an  ascetic  life,  solely  occupied 
in  his  own  salvation,  of  mortifications,  and  secret  works  of 
charity  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\. 

Stael-Holstein,  Anne-Louise-Germaine  Necker,  Ba- 
RONNE  DE,  daughter  of  the  famous  Genevan  Necker ;  born  in 
Paris,  1 796 ;  she  became  the  wife  of  the  Swedish  ambassador 
to  France ;  was  the  authoress  of  ''  Germany,"  "  Corinth,"  and 
''Delphi";  she  was  famous  for  her  struggle  against  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte;  she  was  the  Due  Victor  de  Broglie's  mother- 
in-law  and  the  real  Broglies'  grandmother ;  she  died  in  the 
year  181 7.  She  sojourned  during  exile  in  the  Vendomois. 
During  her  first  stay  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire  she  was 
saluted  by  the  singular  admiring  formula:  "  The  noted  Garce !  " 
[The  Chouans,  JB].  Afterward  Mme.  de  Stael  met  Louis 
Lambert,  a  ragged  child  who  was  deeply  reading  a  translation 
of  ''  Heaven  and  Hell,"  by  Swedenborg ;  she  noticed  him  and 
sent  hira  to  be  educated  at  Vendome  college,  where,  among 


508  COMPENDIUM 

his  Other  companions,  he  met,  in  1811,  the  future  minister, 
Jules  Dufaure  ;  but  she  forgot  her  protege  [Louis  Lambert,  iji\. 
About  1823  Louise  de  Chaulieu  (Mme.  Marie-Gaston)  believed 
that  Mme.  de  Stael  was  still  living;  she  deceased  in  181 7  [Let- 
ters of  Two  Brides,  v\ 

Stanhope,  Lady  Esther,  Pitt's  niece,  met  in  Syria  and 
described  by  the  author  of  ''  Travels  in  the  Orient,"  Lamar- 
tine ;  she  sent  an  Arabian  horse  to  Lady  Dudley,  which  she 
afterward  sold  to  Felix  de  Vandenesse  in  exchange  for  a  Rem- 
brault  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  i].  Mme.  de  Bargeton  was 
wearied  of  that  "  blue  stocking  of  the  desert,"  at  Angouleme, 
in  the  early  years  of  the  Restoration  ;  she  was  devoured  with 
envy  of  her.  Lady  Esther's  father.  Count  Charles  Stanhope, 
Viscount  of  Mahon,  an  English  peer,  invented  a  printing-press 
— the  Stanhope — which  became  celebrated  the  world  over; 
the  avarice  and  usual  routine  of  Jerome-Nicolas  Sechard 
caused  him  to  decry  it  to  his  son  [Lost  Illusions,  _ZV]. 

Staub,  German,  a  noted  Parisian  tailor,  1821 ;  he  made 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  on  credit  without  a  doubt,  some  clothes 
which  he  himself  took  to  try  on  at  the  hotel  of  the  Gaillard- 
Bois,  Rue  de  I'Echelle.  Shortly  after  he  again  clothed  Lu- 
cien, this  time  at  Coralie's  house  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  M\ 

Steibelt,  a  celebrated  musician  who  was,  at  Nantes  during 
the  Empire,  Felicite  des  Touches'  professor  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Steinbock,  Comte  Wenceslas,  born  at  Prelie,  Livonia, 
1809 ;  a  nephew  of  one  of  Charles  XIL's  generals.  Exiled 
in  his  youth  he  went  to  live  in  Paris  and,  both  of  vocation 
and  driven  by  his  poverty,  became  a  carver  and  sculptor.  In 
connection  with  Francois  Souchet,  a  compatriot  of  Laginski, 
he  worked  on  the  decoration  of  that  Pole's  mansion,  Rue  de 
la  Pepiniere  [The  Imaginary  Mistress,  /i].  Miserably  in- 
stalled on  the  Rue  du  Doyenne,  he  became  Lisbeth  Fischer's 
neighbor ;  that  old  maid  saved  him  from  suicide,  gave  him 
courage,   and   supported   him.     Steinbock   worked  and  sue- 


COMJ^DIE  HUMAINE.  509 

ceeded.  By  chance  his  works  became  known  to  Hulot 
d'Ervy,  and  he  became  acquainted  with  him.  Steinbock 
loved  his  daughter  and  married  her.  He  received  an  im- 
portant commission  for  a  statue  from  the  government,  and 
went  to  live  on  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain,  near 
the  Esplanades  des  Invalides,  not  far  from  the  marble  depot, 
where  the  State  provided  a  workshop  for  him.  He  was 
directed  to  erect  a  monument  to  Marechal  de  Montcornet. 
The  vindictive  rancor  of  Lisbeth  Fischer,  added  to  his  own 
feeble  nature,  caused  him  to  fall  under  the  sinister  domination 
of  Valerie  Marneffe,  of  whom  he  became  the  lover.  The 
same  as  Stidmann,  Vignon,  and  Massol,  he  was  a  witness  to 
the  second  marriage  of  that  woman.  Steinbock  returned  to 
the  conjugal  domicile,  in  the  Rue  Louis-le-Grand,  about  the 
end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign  ;  his  dreams  seemed  beyond  his 
power  of  execution  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Steinbock,  Comtesse  Wenceslas,  nee  Hortense  Hulot 
d'Ervy,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the  sister  and  younger  of 
Victorin  Hulot.  She  was  handsome,  and  her  parents'  position 
gave  her  a  brilliant  standing  in  society,  but  she  was  deprived  of 
her  dowry,  and  chose  a  husband  for  herself.  She  with  much 
difficulty  excused  her  husband's  infidelities,  and  only  after 
he  had  fully  abandoned  his  conjugal  treason.  Her  brother's 
sagacious  foresight,  the  inheritance  from  Marechal  Hulot, 
those  also  from  Lisbeth  Fischer  and  Valerie  Crevel,  brought 
opulence  into  the  countess'  household ;  she  lived  successively 
on  the  Rues  de  I'Universite,  Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain, 
and  Louis-le-Grand  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Steinbock,  Wenceslas,  only  son  of  the  foregoing;  born 
while  his  parents  lived  together;  he  remained  with  his  mother 
when  they  separated  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Steingel,  an  Alsacian  ;  the  natural  son  of  General  Steingel, 
who  succumbed  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign  in  Italy  dur- 
ing the  Republic.  About  1823  he  was  in  Burgundy  under  .*,he 
command  of   the  head-keeper   Michaud,   one   of  the   three 


510  COMPENDIUM 

keepers  on  Montcornet's  estate  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — 
The  Peasantry,  JK\. 

Stevens,  Miss  Dinah,  born  in  1791,  the  daughter  of  an 
English  brewer ;  plain,  economical,  and  a  Puritan  ;  she  owned 
an  income  of  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs,  which 
came  to  her  from  her  father  j  the  Marquise  de  Vordac,  who 
met  her  at  some  watering-place  in  1827,  spoke  of  her  to  her 
son  de  Marsay  as  a  good  catch  ;  Marsay  pretended  that  he 
would  marry  the  heiress ;  this  he  very  probably  did,  for  he 
left  a  widow  who  erected  a  superb  monument,  the  work  of 
Stidmann,  over  his  grave  in  Pere-Lachaise  [A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, aa — Cousin  Pons,  i»]. 

Stidmann,  a  noted  Parisian  carver  and  sculptor  during 
the  Restoration  and  Louis-Philippe's  reign  ;  Wenceslas  Stein- 
bock's  master.  He  engraved  a  fox  hunt,  at  a  cost  of  seven 
thousand  francs,  on  the  golden  handle,  enriched  with  ru- 
bies, of  a  riding-whip  which  Ernest  de  la  Briere  gave  to 
Modeste  Mignon  [Modeste  Mignon,  'K.\  On  the  request 
of  Fabien  de  Ronceret,  Stidmann  undertook  the  charge  of 
decorating  his  apartments  on  the  Rue  Blanche  [Beatrix,  J*]. 
He  designed  the  models  of  a  fire  set  destined  for  Hulot  d'Ervy ; 
was  one  of  the  number  invited  by  Mile.  Brisetout  to  the  inau- 
guration festival  of  her  little  hotel.  Rue  Chauchat,  1838  ;  in 
the  same  year  he  assisted  at  the  celebration  of  the  marriage 
between  Wenceslas  Steinbock  and  Hortense  Hulot;  he  knew 
Dorlange  (Sallenauve) ;  like  Vignon,  Steinbock,  and  Massol, 
he  was  a  witness  to  the  second  marriage  of  Valerie  Marneflfe 
to  Celestin  Crevel ;  he  was  the  secret  lover  of  Mme.  Steinbock, 
who  was  neglected  by  her  husband  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>X> 
— Cousin  Betty,  ic;].  He  executed  the  tombstones  of  Charles 
Keller  and  de  Marsay  [Cousin  Pons,  q6\.  Stidmann  entered 
the  Institute  in  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  tl\. 

Stopfer,  M.  and  Madame,  formerly  coopers  at  Neuchatel ; 
at  Gersau,  canton  of  Lucerne,  they  kept  the  Swan  Inn,  near 
the  lake,  1823,  at  which  Rodolphe  descended  when  he  entered 


COM^DIE   HUMAINE.  511 

that  village,  the  same  place  in  which  the  Gandolphinis  stayed, 
disguised  under  the  name  of  Lovelace  [*' Ambition  for  Love's 
Sake"  in  Albert  Savaron,  f\ 

Sucy,  General  Baron  Philippe  de,  born  in  1789.  He 
served  under  the  Empire  ;  he  was  present  at  the  passage  of  the 
Beresina,  where  he  tried  to  make  sure  of  the  safety  of  St^hanie 
de  Vandieres,  his  mistress,  and  the  wife  of  a  general,  of  whom 
he  afterward  lost  all  trace.  Seven  years  later,  when  a  colonel 
and  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  he  was  hunting  with  a 
friend,  the  Marquis  d'Albon,  near  the  Isle-Adam,  when  he 
discovered  Mme.  de  Vandieres  attended  by  a  crazy  girl,  she 
herself  being  also  insane ;  he  kept  her  and  endeavored  to 
secure  the  return  of  her  reason.  In  the  end  he  arranged  in 
the  middle  of  his  estate  at  Saint-Germain  an  exact  reproduc- 
tion of  the  scene  of  his  **  Farewell"  in  1812;  as  a  fact,  the 
lunatic  recognized  him  for  a  moment,  but  expired  immediately 
after.  Promoted  a  general,  Sucy  remained  a  pr-ey  to  his  in- 
curable despair,  and  ended  by  killing  himself  [Farewell,  ^e], 

Suzanne,  Madame  Theodore  Gaillard's  Christian  name, 
under  which,  in  181 6,  she  was  known  by  the  folk  of  Alen^on  : 
Valois,  Granson,  Bousquier,  and  Lardot  [The  Old  Maid,  a(jC\. 
Suzannet  was,  with  Abbe  Vernal,  Comte  de  Fontaine,  and 
M.  de  Chatillon,  one  of  the  four  leading  Vendeans  in  the 
insurrection  of  the  West  in  1799  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Suzette  was,  during  the  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XVIII. ,  the  chambermaid  of  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  Paris, 
about  the  time  that  the  duchess  received  Montriveau  [The 
Duchesse  de  Langeais,  66]. 

Suzon  was  for  a  long  time  Maxime  de  Trailles*  footman 
[A  Man  of  Business,  I — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DIX]. 

Sylvie,  a  cook  in  Mme.  Vauquer's  boarding-house.  Rue 
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  in  the  years  1819-20,  at  the  time  when 
Jean-Joachim  Goriot,  Eugene  de  Rastignac,  Jacques  Collin, 
Horace  Bianchon,  the  Poirets,  Mme.  Couture,  and  Victorine 
Taillefer  were  boarders  at  that  house  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 


612  COMPENDIUM 


Tabareau,  an  officer  to  the  justice  of  the  peace  in  the 
eighth*  arrondissement,  Paris,  1845-46.  He  was  a  friend  of 
Fraisier,  the  man  of  affairs.  Mme.  Cibot,  the  janitor,  Rue 
de  Normandie,  employed  Tabareau  to  summons  Schmucke  to 
make  him  pay  her  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  francs  due  to  her  by  the  German  and  Pons  for  supplies, 
rent,  small  payments,  costs,  etc.  [Cousin  Pons,  oc\, 

Tabareau,  Mademoiselle,  the  only  child  of  the  petty 
officer  Tabareau ;  a  tall  girl,  rosy  and  consumptive ;  she  was, 
under  the  headship  of  her  mother,  the  proprietor  of  a  house, 
in  the  Place  Royal ;  here  it  was  that  she  was  sought  in  mar- 
riage by  Fraisier,  the  business  agent  and  attorney  [Cousin 
Pons,  x\. 

Taboureau,  once  a  day-laborer,  then,  under  the  Restora- 
tion, a  grain  dealer  and  usurer  in  the  commune  of  Isere,  of 
which  Dr.  Benassis  was  the  mayor.  A  very  wrinkled,  half- 
bent,  lean  man  with  tightly  closed  lips,  whose  chin  nearly 
met  his  nose,  with  scanty  gray  hair  slightly  touched  with 
black,  and  as  cunning  as  a  horse  jockey  [The  Country 
Doctor,  C\ 

Taillefer,  Jean-Frederic,  born  about  1779  at  Beauvais;t 
he  built,  in  1799,  on  the  result  of  a  crime,  the  first  makings 
of  his  fortune,  which  was  considerable.  In  a  tavern  in  the 
vicinity  of  Andernach,  Prussia,  Jean-Frederic  Taillefer,  then 
an  army  surgeon,  killed  and  despoiled  at  night  a  rich,  unwor- 
thy merchant,  M.  Walhenfer.  He  was  quite  uneasy  about  this 
death ;  for  he  overwhelmed  his  friend,  colleague,  and  com- 
patriot, Prosper  Magnan,  with  every  appearance  of  guilt,  and 

*  Now  the  fourth  arrondissement. 

f  The  Taillefers  are  still  in  existence  there.  (This  detail  is  furnished 
by  an  inhabitant  of  Beauvais.) 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  513 

he  was  executed.  Returning  to  Paris  Taillefer  was  from  that 
time  an  honored,  opulent  personage.  Captain  of  the  first  com- 
pany of  grenadiers  in  the  National  Guard,  an  influential 
banker  and  a  lucky  speculator,  who  made  much  by  Nucingen's 
third  speculation  ;  he  was  twice  married ;  he  ill-treated  his 
first  wife,  a  relative  of  Mme.  Couture,  who  gave  him  two 
children :  Frederic-Michel  and  Victorine.  He  owned  a 
magnificent  mansion  on  the  Rue  Joubert.  Under  Louis- 
Philippe  he  gave  superb  fetes,  senciing  invitations  to  Blondet, 
Rastignac,  Valentin,  Cardot,  Aquilina  de  la  Garde,  and  Eu- 
phraisie.  M.  Taillefer  nevertheless  suffered  both  morally  and 
physically:  first  for  the  crime  committed  by  him,  and  then 
from  remorse  in  the  autumn  about  the  anniversary  of  the 
time  when  the  deed  was  committed ;  then,  according  to  Dr. 
Brousson,  he  had  gout  in  the  head.  Well  cared  for  by  his 
second  wife  and  by  his  daughter  by  his  first  marriage,  Jean- 
Frederic  expired  some  time  after  an  ostentatious  rout  given 
by  him.  One  evening  passed  in  the  salon  of  a  banker,  the 
father  of  Mile.  Fanny,  hastened  Taillefer's  end,  for  he  was 
compelled  to  listen  to  the  recital  of  Hermann,  who  related 
the  unique  martyrdom  of  Magnan.  The  invitation  to  his 
funeral  read  as  follows : 

You  are  begged  to  assist  at  the  funeral  and  burial  service  of 

M.  JEAN-FR£DERIC  TAILLEFER, 

of  the  firm  of  Taillefer  &  Co.,  sometime  contractor  of  provisions  to  the 
Army,  late  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  and  of  the  Order  of  the 
Golden  Spur,  Captain  of  the  First  Company  of  Grenadiers  of  the  National 
Guard,  Paris ;  who  died  May  1st,  at  his  house  on  the  Rue  Joubert.  The 
interment  will  take  place,  etc.     On  behalf  of,  etc.^  etc. 

[The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  «— Father  Goriot,  6r— The  Wild 
Ass'  Skin,  ^— The  Red  House,  d\ 

Taillefer,  Madame,  first  wife  of  the  foregoing  and  the 
33 


614  COMPENDIUM 

mother  of  Frederic-Michel  and  Victorine  Taillefer.  Exposed 
to  the  bad  treatment  of  her  husband,  who  had  unjust  suspicions 
of  her  adultery,  she  died  of  grief,  while  she  was,  without  a 
doubt,  still  quite  young  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Taillefer,  Madame,  Jean-Frederic  Taillefer's  second  wife, 
whom  he  married  as  a  good  speculation,  but  who  nevertheless 
made  him  happy.  She  seems  to  have  cared  for  and  been  de- 
voted to  him  [The  Red  House,  e^]. 

Taillefer,  Frederic-Michel,  the  son  by  Jean-Fred6ric 
Taillefer's  first  wife ;  he  did  not  attempt  to  defend  his  sister 
Victorine  against  her  father's  unjust  persecutions.  He  was  the 
designated  heir  of  the  whole  of  his  father's  immense  fortune, 
but  he  was  killed  in  a  duel,  fought  near  Clignancourt,  1819, 
by  Colonel  Franchessini,  at  the  instigation  of  Jacques  Collin, 
in  the  interest  of,  although  he  was  ignorant  of  the  fact,  Eugene 
de  Rastignac  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Taillefer,  Victorine,  Jean-Frederic  Taillefer's  daughter 
by  his  first  wife  and  sister  of  the  foregoing ;  a  distant  cousin 
of  Mme.  Couture;  orphaned  of  her  mother  in  1819;  in  her 
father's  eyes  she  was  looked  upon  as  born  of  the  adulterous 
relations  of  her  mother ;  turned  out  of  the  paternal  dwelling 
she  sought  refuge  in  Mme.  Vauquer's  boarding-house.  Rue 
Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve,  with  her  relation  the  widow  Couture ; 
she  was  there  smitten  by  Eugene  de  Rastignac ;  by  the  death 
of  her  brother  she  became  the  heiress  of  her  father's  vast 
wealth.  She  carefully  looked  after  him  on  his  death-bed  of 
agony.  Victorine  Taillefer  undoubtedly  remained  a  spinster 
[Father  Goriot,  O— The  Red  House,  d\ 

Talleyrand- Perigord,  Charles-Maurice  de,  Prince  de 
Benevent,  bishop  of  Autun,  ambassador  and  minister;  born 
in  Paris  in  1754;  died  there,  in  his  hotel  on  the  Rue  Saint- 
Florentin,*  1838.  Talleyrand  was  occupied  in  the  insurrec- 
tionary movement   in  Brittany,  under  the  direction  of  the 

♦Alexander  I.,  Emperor  of  Russia,  sojourned  in  this  hdtel;  it  was 
really  owned  and  occupied  by  Baron  Alphonse  de  Rothschild. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  515 

Marquis  de  Montauran,  about  1799  [The  Chouans,  J5].  The 
year  following,  June,  1800,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of 
Marengo,  M.  de  Talleyrand  conferred  with  Malin  de  Gondre- 
ville,  Fouche,  Carnot,  and  Sieyes  on  the  political  situation.  In 
1804  he  received  M.  de  Chargeboeuf,  M.  d'Hauteserre  senior, 
and  Abbe  Goujet,  who  waited  upon  him  to  request  the  re- 
instatement of  Robert  and  Adrien  d'Hauteserre  and  Paul- 
Marie  and  Marie-Paul  de  Simeuse  and  the  removal  of  their 
names  from  the  list  of  emigrants;  afterward  when  they  were 
condemned,  though  innocent,  of  Senator  Malin's  abduction, 
he  used  his  best  efforts  to  have  them  pardoned,  on  the  petition 
of  Maitre  Bordin  and  the  said  Marquis  de  Chargeboeuf.  At 
the  time  of  the  execution  of  the  Due  d'Enghien,  which  he  had 
perhaps  advised,  he  is  found  at  Mme.  de  Luynes',  where  he 
gave  the  news  and  the  precise  hour  when  the  deed  was  done. 
M.  de  Talleyrand  dearly  loved  Antoinette  de  Langeais. 
Friendly  with  the  Chaulieus  he  was  particularly  familiar  with 
their  nearest  relative,  the  old  Princesse  de  Vauremont,  who 
appointed  him  her  executor  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — The 
Duchesse  de  Langeais,  hb — Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  Fritot, 
when  he  sold  his  famous  Selim  shawl  to  Mrs.  Noswell,  showed 
an  address  and  finesse  that  would  have  duped  our  illustrious 
diplomat :  indeed,  one  day,  when  his  wife  hesitated  between 
two  bracelets,  Talleyrand  asked  the  clerk  who  brought  them 
which  one  was  the  most  to  his  taste,  and  advised  her  to  pur- 
chase the  one  which  had  been  discarded  by  the  shopman 
[Gaudissart  IL,  lfl\. 

Tarlowski,  a  Pole ;  colonel  in  the  Imperial  Guards  j  an 
ordnance  officer  under  Napoleon  Bonaparte;  the  friend  of 
Poniatowski ;  he  married  Bourlac's  daughter  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T]. 

Tascheron,  born  about  1799 ;  a  very  honest,  small  farmer 
in  the  market-town  of  Montegnac,  about  nine  leagues  from 
Limoges;  he  left  there  during  the  month  of  May,  1829,  im- 
mediately after  the  capital  execution  of  his  son  Jean-Fran9ois. 


516  COMPENDIUM 

With  his  wife,  children  and  parents,  he  sailed  for  America; 
he  prospered  there  and  founded  the  village  of  Tascheron,  in 
the  State  of  Ohio,  U.  S.  A.  [The  Country  Parson,  F\    , 

Tascheron,  Jean-Francois,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  fore- 
going, born  about  1805  ;  he  was  a  worker  in  porcelain,  being 
employed  successively  by  Messrs.  Graslin  and  Philippart ; 
during  the  reign  of  Charles  X.  he  committed  a  triple  crime, 
but,  as  he  was  of  such  excellent  antecedents,  it  for  a  long  time 
remained  an  inexplicable  mystery.  Jean-Frangois  Tascheron 
loved  the  wife  of  his  first  employer,  Pierre  Graslin,  and  was 
beloved  by  her :  in  order  to  prepare  for  their  flight  together, 
he  one  night  entered  the  house  of  Pingret,  a  wealthy  and 
miserly  gardener,  in  the  faubourg  Saint-Etienne ;  from  him  he 
stole  a  sum  of  money,  and,  thinking  to  assure  himself  against 
discovery,  killed  the  old  man  and  his  servant,  Jeanne  Malassis. 
Arrested  and  sentenced  to  death,  he  refused  to  confess,  and 
always  did  everything  to  avoid  compromising  his  mistress, 
Mme.  Graslin.  He  was  deaf  to  the  prayers  of  the  almoner 
Pascal,  and  refused  to  see  any  other  visitors  than  Abbe  Bon- 
net, his  mother,  and  Denise  Gerard  (then  Denise  Tascheron): 
at  their  instance  he  restored  a  notable  portion  of  the  hundred 
thousand  francs  he  had  stolen,  and  was  executed  in  August, 
1829,  in  the  Place  de  I'Aine  (a  corruption  of  the  word  Arene), 
Limoges.  Jean-Frangois  was  Francis  Graslin's  natural  father 
[The  Country  Parson,  F\ 

Tascheron,  Louis-Marie,  one  of  the  brothers  of  the 
foregoing ;  together  with  Denise  Tascheron,  afterward  Denise 
Gerard,  he  accomplished  a  double  mission :  he  destroyed  the 
traces  of  Jean-Francois'  crime,  which  protected  Mme.  Graslin 
against  any  treachery,  and  returned  the  balance  of  the  stolen 
money  to  the  heirs  of  Pingret — M.  and  Mme.  des  Vanneaulx 
[The  Country  Parson,  ~F'\. 

Tascheron,  Denise,  one  of  the  sisters  of  the  foregoing. 
See  Gerard,  Madame  Gregoire. 

Taupin,  cure  of  Soulanges ;  cousin  of  the  Sarcus'  and  the 


CO  Mi: DIE  HUMAINE.  617 

miller  Sarcus-Taupin.  He  was  a  clever  man,  happy,  and  was 
in  good  odor  with  his  parishioners  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Temninck,  De,  Due  de  Casa-Real,  Balthazar  Claes' 
brother.     See  Casa-Real,  Due  de. 

Thelusson,  a  banker ;  Lemprun  was  one  of  his  employi^s 
before  he  entered  on  his  duties  as  messenger  in  the  Bank  of 
France  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Therese  was  Mme.  de  Nucingen's  chambermaid,  under 
the  Restoration  and  Louis-Philippe  [Father  Goriot,  6r — A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\ 

Therese  was  Mme.  Xavier  Rabourdin's  chambermaid,  Rue 
Duphot,  Paris,  1824  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Therese,  Mme.  de  Rochefide's  chambermaid,  at  the  close 
of  the  reign  of  Charles  X.  and  under  that  of  Louis- Philippe 
[Beatrix,  !>]. 

Therese,  Sister,  the  name  uiider  which  died,  after  taking 
the  veil,  Antoinette  de  Langeais,  who  had  sought  refuge  in  a 
convent  of  barefooted  Carmellites,  on  a  Spanish  island — with- 
out doubt  the'  He  de  Leon  [The  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  66]. 

Terrasse  &  Duclos,  keepers  of  the  records  at  the  Palais, 
1822;  they  were  successfully  consulted  at  that  time  by  Gode- 
schal  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 

Thibon,  Baron,  chief  of  the  bar  of  accounts,  1818;  he 
had  been  C6sar  Birotteau's  colleague  at  the  tribunal  of  com- 
merce [C6sar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Thirion,  doorkeeper  of  Louis  XVIIL's  cabinet;  he  fre- 
quented the  Ragons,  and  was  invited  to  the  famous  ball  given 
by  Cesar  Birotteau,  December  17,  1818,  together  with  his 
wife  and  daughter  Amelie,  a  pupil  of  Servin,  who  married 
Camusot  de  Marville  [The  Vendetta,  i — Cesar  Birotteau,  0\ 
The  emoluments  of  his  office,  obtained  by  favor  but  merited 
by  his  zeal,  allowed  him  to  make  great  savings,  which  became 
the  succession  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville  [The  Collection 
of  Antiquities,  aa\. 

Thomas  was  the  owner  of  a  great  house  in  Brittany  that 


518  COMPENDIUM 

Marie  de  Verneuil  (Mme.  Alphonse  de  Montauran)  bought 
for  Francine  Cottin,  her  chambermaid,  Thomas'  niece  [The 
Chouans,  ^]. 

Thomas,  Madame,  was  a  modiste  in  Paris  about  the  end 
of  Charles  X.'s  reign;  this  was  the  place  to  which  Frederic 
de  Nucingen  should  have  sent  his  servant  for  a  "  black  satin 
bonnet  lined  with  pink  and  trimmed  with  lace,"  but  his  thick 
Alsacian  pronunciation  made  it  ''Montame  Domas,"  and 
the  coachman  drove  to  a  famous  pastry  cook's ;  the  bon- 
net was  intended  for  Esther  van  Gobseck  [The  Harlot's 
Progress,  Y]. 

Thomire  materially  contributed  to  the  famous  festival 
given  by  Frederic  Taillefer  in  his  mansion,  Rue  Joubert,  Paris, 
1831  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Thorec,  an  anagram  of  Hector  and  one  of  the  three  names 
taken  by  Baron  Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy  after  his  flight  from  the 
conjugal  domicile  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Therein,  a  carpenter  who  was  employed  in  the  improving 
of  Cesar  Birotteau's  apartments  some  days  before  the  famous 
ball  given  by  the  perfumer,  December  17,  181 8  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau,   O]. 

Thoul,  an  anagram  of  the  word  Hulot,  and  one  of  the 
three  names  taken  by  Baron  Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy  after  his 
flight  from  the  conjugal  domicile  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Thouvenin,  a  famous  artist,  but  unreliable  workman ;  in 
1818  he  was  commissioned  by  Mme.  Anselme  Popinot  (then 
Mile.  Birotteau)  to .  rebind  the  works  of  Bossuet,  Racine, 
Voltaire,  J.  J.  Rousseau,  Montesquieu,  Moliere,  Buffon,  De- 
lille,  Fenelon,  Bunardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  Lafontaine,  Carneille, 
Pascal,  etc.,  for  the  perfumer  Cesar  Birotteau  [Cesar  Birot- 
teau, O].  Thouvenin  was  an  artist  who  was  in  love  with  his 
own  works — the  same  as  Servais ;  he  was  fully  appreciated  by 
Elie  Magus  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Thuillier  was  the  first  porter  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in 
the  second   part  of  the  eighteenth  century ;    by  furnishing 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  519 

meals  to  the  employes  his  place  was  worth  a  good  four  thou- 
sands francs  per  annum.  He  was  married  and  the  father  of 
two  children — Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte  and  Louis-Jerome.  He 
retired  about  1806,  was  a  widower  from  1810,  and  died  in 
1 81 4.  He  was  generally  called  "Fat  Father  Thuillier"  [Les 
Employes,  cc — The  Middles  Classes,  ee\. 

Thuillier,  Marie-Jeanne-Brigitte,  daughter  of  the  fore- 
going, born  in  1787;  she  was  of  an  independent  nature  and 
sound  character ;  she  accepted  a  single  life  to  become,  in  some 
sort,  the  ambitious  mother  of  her  brother  Louis-Jerome,  four 
years  younger  than  herself.  She  commenced  in  business  by 
sewing  cash-bags  for  the  Bank  of  France ;  she  afterward  did  a 
bit  of  bill  discounting ;  she  exploited  her  debtors,  and,  among 
others,  talked  plainly  to  Fleury,  Thuillier's  colleague  in  the 
Bureau  of  Finance.  When  she  was  rich  she  knew  the  Lem- 
pruns  and  the  Galards  ;  she  coveted  their  little  fortune,  of 
which  the  heiress  was  Celeste,  her  she  chose  as  a  wife  for  her 
brother  Louis-Jerome.  After  their  marriage  she  formed  one 
of  the  household  of  her  brother ;  she  was  also  one  of  Mile. 
Colleville's  godmothers  ;  on  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  d'Enfer 
and  the  Place  Madeleine  she  was  frequently  visited  by  Th6o- 
dose  de  la  Peyrade,  who  vainly  sought  the  hand  of  the  future 
Mme.  Felix  Phellion  [Les  Employes,  cc  —  The  Middle 
Classes,  6^]. 

Thuillier,  Louis- Jerome,  the  brother  and  younger  of  the 
foregoing,  born  in  1791.  Thanks  to  his  father's  position  he 
entered  the  Bureau  of  Finance  as  an  employe  at  an  early  age. 
He  was  exempted  from  military  service  owing  to  myopia;  in 
1814  he  married  the  wealthy  Galard's  grandchild.  Celeste 
Leraprun.  Ten  years  later  he  is  found  as  a  compiling-clerk 
in  Xavier  Rabourdin's  office,  in  the  division  superintended 
by  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere.  His  fine  appearance  secured 
him  a  good  time,  which  continued  long  after  his  marriage, 
but  was  arrested  by  the  Restoration  ;  for  with  the  peace  came 
a  horde  of  handsome  men  who  had  escaped  from  the  fields  of 


520  COMPENDIUM 

battle.  Among  the  number  of  his  conquests  in  gallantry  can 
be  cited  that  of  Mme.  Flavie  Colleville,  the  wife  of  a  colleague 
and  intimate  friend  of  his ;  of  their  illicit  relations  was  born 
Celeste  Colleville  (Mme.  Felix  Phellion).  He  was  second 
clerk  for  two  years,  from  January  5,  1828,  until  he  was  dis- 
missed the  bureau  in  1830,  owing  to  the  Revolution.  The 
clerks  lost  in  him  an  amateur  of  jokes  and  pleasantries. 
Thrown  out  of  the  administration  Thuillier  displayed  his 
activity  in  other  matters.  Brigitte,  his  sister  and  elder,  threw 
the  management  of  her  property  into  his  hands,  for  she  bought 
a  house  on  the  Rue  Saint-Dominique  into  which  they  went  to 
live,  removing  from  their  old  residence  on  the  Rue  d'Argen- 
teuil;  the  former  house  had  once  belonged  to  President 
Lecamus  and  then  to  the  painter  Petitot.  The  egotistical 
vanity  of  Thuillier,  who  had  become  a  stout  bourgeois,  know- 
ing and  important,  was  fulsomely  flattered  by  Theodose  de  la 
Peyrade  when  he  became  one  of  his  tenants.  Thuillier  owned 
and  managed  the  ''Echo  de  la  Bi^vre,"  which  he  bought  to 
assist  him  in  his  canvass  for  deputy  in  1840  ;  he  bought  a 
second  house,  Place  de  la  Madeleine,  and  was  elected  coun- 
cilor-general of  the  Seine  to  fill  the  place  left  vacant  by  the 
death  of  J.  J.  Popinot  [Les  Employes,  cc — The  Middle 
Classes,  ee\. 

Thuillier,  Madame,  nee  Celeste  Lemprun,  1794,  wife 
of  the  foregoing ;  the  only  daughter  and  child  of  the  oldest 
messenger  in  the  Bank  of  France ;  and,  on  the  maternal  side, 
Galard's  granddaughter — he  was  a  rich  truck-gardener  of 
Auteuil ;  she  was  a  lymphatic  blonde,  sad,  gentle,  religious, 
and  sterile.  As  a  married  woman  Mme.  Thuillier  was  pliant 
under  the  despotism  of  her  sister-in-law,  Marie- Jeanne-Brigitte; 
she  found  some  consolation  in  the  affection  of  Celeste  Colle- 
ville, and,  about  1841,  contributed  in  some  measure  to  the 
marriage  of  her  goddaughter  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Tiennette,  born  in  1769  ;  a  woman  of  Brittany  who  wore 
the  costume  of  her  country  at  Nemours,  1829  j  she  was  the 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  521 

devoted    servant  of  the  dowager  Mme.  de   Portendu^re,  on 
the  Rue  des  Bourgeois*  [Ursule  Mirouet,  S\ 

Tillet,  Ferdinand  du,  was  only  entitled  to  the  Christian 
name,  which  was  given  him  in  1793,  on  Saint-Ferdinand's 
day,  by  the  curate  at  the  church  du  Tillet,  a  village  near 
Andelys.  Ferdinand  was  the  son  of  some  unknown  great 
lord  and  a  poor  peasant-woman  of  Normandy,  who  was  con- 
fined of  him  at  night  under  a  walnut  tree  in  the  garden  of  the 
priest's  house.  The  priest  received  the  seduced  woman's  son 
when  newly  born  and  cared  for  him.  His  protector  dead, 
Ferdinand  resolved  to  make  his  way  in  the  world ;  he  took 
the  name  of  his  hamlet,  and  became  first  of  all  a  drummer  or 
commercial  traveler;  and  in  18 14  was  head  clerk  in  the  per- 
fumery house  of  Birotteau,  Rue  Saint-Honore,  Paris.  Du 
Tillet  vainly  tried  to  captivate  Constance  Birotteau,  his  em- 
ployer's wife ;  he  also  stole  three  thousand  francs  from  the 
merchant's  safe.  He  was  informed  of  the  theft  and  pardoned, 
but  it  was  an  offense  to  du  Tillet  which  he  never  forgave.  He 
left  the  perfumer  and  started  as  a  banker ;  was  Mme.  Roguin's 
lover;  he  was  also  mixed  up  in  Maitre  Roguin's  and  Charles 
Claparon's  affairs  in  a  financial  conspiracy  called  '*the  Made- 
leine lands,"  the  prime  cause  of  Birotteau's  bankruptcy;  at 
the  same  time  it  made  his  own  fortune,  1818.  Du  Tillet  was 
already  a  lynx  of  Nucingen's,  with  whom  he  was  intimate, 
and  he  frequently  visited  him ;  he  was  Mile.  Malvina  d'Ald- 
rigger's  lover;  he  did  something  for  the  Kellers;  was  the 
protector  of  the  provincial  Royalist,  Tiphaine;  he  crushed 
Birotteau  and  triumphed  over  him,  on  the  same  December  17, 
1818,  the  evening  of  the  perfumer's  famous  ball;  together 
with  Jules  Desmarets  and  Benjamin  de  la  Billardiere  he 
is  pointed  out  as  a  distinctive  type  of  a  man  of  the  world 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t — The  Middle 
Classes,  ee — A  Bachelor's  Establishment,  e/— Pierrette,  i]. 
When    launched  in  business   M.   du  Tillet   seldom  left   the 

*  Now  the  Rue  Bezout. 


522  COMPENDIUM 

Chaussee  d'Antin,  which  was  the  financial  quarter  of  Paris 
during  the  Restoration  and  the  reign  of  Louis-Philippe.  He 
received  Birotteau  as  a  suppliant  and  gave  him  a  letter  of 
recommendation  to  Nucingen,  which  was  in  reality  a  request 
that  the  banker  would  do  nothing  for  the  unfortunate  per- 
fumer. This  was  done  by  means  of  a  scheme  devised  between 
the  two  men  :  if  the  letter  was  written  without  any  dots  over 
the  /'s,  it  was  to  be  understood  in  the  opposite  sense  to  the 
reading ;  du  Tillet  by  this  voluntary  omission  was  the  ruin  of 
the  unfortunate  Birotteau.  He  had  his  bank  on  the  Rue 
Joubert,  when  Rodolphe  Castanier,  the  faithless  cashier,  de- 
spoiled Nucingen  [Melmoth  Reconciled,  e^].  Ferdinand  du 
Tillet  was  already  a  person  of  importance  when  Lucien  de 
Rubempre  made  his  first  appearance  in  Paris,  182 1  [A  Dis- 
tinguished Provincial  at  Paris,  JST].  Ten  years  later  he  mar- 
ried the  youngest  daughter  of  Comte  de  Granville,  a  peer  of 
France,  "one  of  the  most  celebrated  names  in  the  French 
magistracy."  He  resided  in  one  of  the  beautiful  mansions 
on  the  Rue  Neuve-des-Mathurins,  now  known  as  the  Rue  des 
Mathurins;  Mme.  Rougin  remained  his  mistress  for  a  long 
time;  he  often  put  in  an  appearance  at  Mme.  d'Espard's 
house,  faubourg  Saint-Honore,  where  he  is  found  on  the  day 
that  Diane  de  Cadignan  was  slandered  in  the  presence  of 
Daniel  d'Arthez,  who  was  smitten  by  her.  With  Massol  and 
Raoul  Nathan  he  founded  a  great  newspaper,  which  was  in- 
tended to  serve  his  financial  interests.  He  tried  to  embarrass 
Nathan  by  an  accumulation  of  debts ;  he  became  a  candidate 
for  deputy  to  succeed  Nucingen,  who  had  been  made  a  peer 
of  France ;  this  time  he  again  triumphed,  for  he  was  elected 
[The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^ — A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  Y\  M.  du  Tillet  did  not  spare  Maxime  de  Trailles, 
his  debtor,  for  he  pursued  him  pitilessly  until  the  count  be- 
came the  electoral  agent  of  the  government  in  Champagne 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DX)].  He  was  present  at  the  f6te 
given  by  Josepha  Mirah  at  the  inauguration  of  her  little  man- 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  623 

sion,  Rue  de  la  Ville-rEv§que;  C^lestin  Crevel  and  Valerie 
Marneffe  invited  him  to  their  wedding  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 
About  the  close  of  the  Monarchy  of  July,  when  a  deputy  of 
the  Left  Centre,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  kept  Seraphine  Sinet, 
an  opera  ballet-girl  more  familiarly  known  as  Carabine,  in 
most  magnificent  style  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  if]. 
There  exists  a  biography  of  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  from  the 
brilliant  pen  of  M.  Jules  Claretie — in  ''Le  Temps,"  of  Sep- 
tember 5,  1884:  *' La  Vie  a  Paris." 

Tillet,  Madame  Ferdinand  du,  nee  Marie- Eugenie  de 
Granville,  18 14,  wife  of  the  foregoing.  One  of  the  Comte 
and  Comtesse  de  Granville's  four  children,  the  younger  sister 
of  Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse;  a  blonde  like  her  mother; 
she  found  in  marriage,  from  1831,  the  same  chagrins  that 
had  clouded  her  years  of  adolescence.  The  natural  frolic- 
someness  of  Eugenie  du  Tillet  had  no  outlet  save  in  the 
company  of  her  eldest  sister,  Angelique-Marie,  and  their  old 
professor  of  harmony,  W.  Schmucke  ;  for  the  two  sisters  tried 
to  forget  the  rigid  piety  of  the  paternal  roof  by  abandoning 
it  as  soon  as  possible  ;  the  rigors  of  their  mother  were  as  bad 
as  those  of  a  convent.  Poor  in  the  midst  of  luxury,  neglected 
by  her  husband,  and  bound  down  under  an  inflexible  yoke, 
Mme.  du  Tillet  was  unable  to  help  her  sister — then  Mme.  de 
Vandenesse — in  furnishing  some  cash  to  assist  Raoul  Nathan 
in  his  work,  who  had  excited  a  passion  for  him  in  her  sister's 
breast ;  nevertheless  she  was  able  to  furnish  two  precious  auxil- 
iaries :  Delphine  de  Nucingen  and  W.  Schmucke.  Mme.  du 
Tillet  had  some  children  by  her  marriage  [A  Daughter  of 
Eve,   F]. 

Tinteniac,  known  by  his  participation  in  the  affair  at 
Quiberon ;  he  had  among  his  trusty  friends  Jacques  Horeau. 
who  was  executed,  in  1809,  with  the  Chauffeurs  of  I'Orne 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Tinti,  Clarina,  born  in  Sicily  about  1803;  was  an  inn 
servant  when  her  superb  voice  was  remarked  by  a  great  lord 


524  COMPENDIUM 

and  compatriot,  the  Due  Cataneo,  who  had  her  instructed.  At 
sixteen  years  of  age  she  made  her  debut  with  great  brilliancy 
on  divers  Italian  stages.  In  1820  she  was  the  prima  donna 
assoluta  at  the  Fenise  theatre,  Venice.  Loved  by  the  famous 
tenor  Genovese,  la  Tinti  was  constantly  engaged  to  sing  with 
him.  An  ardent  courtesan,  beautiful  and  capricious,  Clarina 
was  smitten  by  Prince  Emilio  de  Varese,  who  was  the  Duchess 
Cataneo's  lover,  and  in  a  moment  she  became  the  mistress  of 
that  last  descendant  of  the  Memmi ;  the  ruined  palace  belong- 
ing to  Varese,  which  Cataneo  had  rented  for  la  Tinti,  shel- 
tered their  ephemeral  relations  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff^  In 
the  winter  of  1823-24,  at  the  home  of  Prince  Gandolphini, 
Geneva,  Clarina  Tinti  sang  with  Genovese,  the  princess,  and 
an  Italian  exiled  prince,  the  celebrated  quartette :  *'Mi  manca 
la  voce  "  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Tiphaine,  of  Provins,  brother  of  Mme.  Guenee-Galardon  ; 
rich,  like  her,  and  awaiting  his  father's  succession  ;  he  em- 
braced a  magisterial  career;  married  the  granddaughter  of 
Chevrel,  a  great  banker  at  Paris;  had  two  children  by  his 
marriage ;  presided  over  the  court  in  his  native  town,  about 
the  end  of  Charles  X.'s  reign.  He  was  then  a  fervent  Roy- 
alist, protected  by  the  financiers  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  and 
Frederic  de  Nucingen,  and  fought  against  Gouraud,  Vinet, 
and  Rogron,  the  local  representatives  of  the  Liberal  party; 
for  a  long  time  he  supported  their  victim,  Pierrette  Lorrain. 
Tiphaine  accommodated  himself  to  the  **  revolutionary"  Louis- 
Philippe,  under  whose  reign  he  became  a  deputy ;  he  was 
"one  of  the  most  esteemed  orators  of  the  Centre"  ;  he  was 
appointed  judge  to  the  Court  of  First  Instance  of  the  Seine, 
and,  shortly  after,  first  president  of  the  Royal  Court  [Pier- 
rette, i]. 

Tiphaine,  Madame,  nee  Mathilde-Melanie  Roguin,  in 
the  early  yecrs  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  the  only  daughter  of 
a  rich  notary  of  Paris,  known  by  his  fraudulent  bankruptcy  in 
1819 ;  on  the  maternal  side  she  was  the  granddaughter  of 


CO  MED  IE  nUMAINE.  525 

Chevrel,  the  banker;  and  also  distant  cousin  of  the  Guil- 
laumes,  Lebas,  and  Sommervieux.  Before  her  marriage  she 
frequented  the  painter  Servin's  studio;  there  she  was  the 
"  malicious  oracle"  of  the  Liberal  party,  and,  together  with 
Laure,  took  the  part  of  Ginevra  di  Piombo  against  Amelie 
Thirion,  the  head  of  the  aristocratic  group  [The  Vendetta,  /]. 
Smart,  pretty,  coquettish,  correct,  and  a  fine  Parisian,  she  was 
protected  by  Mme.  Roguin's  lover,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet ;  she 
enthroned  herself  in  Provins,  in  the  midst  of  the  Guenee 
family,  which  was  represented  by  Mesdames  Galardon,  Le-. 
sourd,  Martener,  and  Auffray;  she  welcomed  and  defended 
Pierrette  Lorrain  ;  she  was  riddled  by  the  railleries  of  the  Ro- 
grons'  salon  [Pierrette,  'l\. 

Tissot,  Pierre-Francois,  born  March  lo,  1768,  at  Ver- 
sailles; died  April  7,  1854;  was  general  secretary  of  the 
commission  on  subsistence  in  1793;  the  successor  of  Jacques 
Delille  in  the  chair  of  Latin  poetry  at  the  College  de  France ; 
an  academician  in  1833 ;  the  author  of  a  number  of  historical 
and  literary  works ;  under  the  Restoration  was  editor-in-chief 
of  the  *'  Pilote,"  a  radical  sheet  which  gave  to  the  provinces, 
some  hours  after  the  national  gazettes,  a  special  edition  of  the 
news  of  the  day.  Horace  Bianchon  in  it  inserted  the  death 
of  Frederic-Michel  Taillefer,  18 19,  who  had  been  killed  in  a 
duel  by  Franchessini  [Father  Goriot,  6r].  Under  Louis- 
Philippe,  at  the  time  of  the  bubbling  activity  of  Charles- 
Edouard  Rusticoli  de  la  Palferine,  who  vainly  sought  a  career, 
Tissot  plead  from  his  rostrum  for  the  cause,  the  aspirations, 
and  the  rights  of  the  youthful  agitators  and  discontented 
[A  Prince  of  Bohemia,  JE'F\ 

Tito,  a  young  and  handsome  Italian,  who,  in  1823,  carried 
la  laberia  e  denaro  to  Prince  and  Princess  Gandolphini,  who 
were  then  in  exile,  poor,  and  hiding  at  Gersau,  Lucerne, 
under  the  English  name  of  Lovelace  [^*  Ambition  for  Love's 
Sake,"  in  Albert  Savaron,/]. 

Toby,  born  in.  Ireland  about  1807;  also  called  Joby  and 


526  COMPENDIUM 

Paddy;  during  the  Restoration,  de  Beaudenord's  **  tiger," 
Quai  Malaquais,  Paris ;  a  model  of  vicious  precocity ;  he  ac- 
quired in  the  exercise  of  his  functions  a  kind  of  celebrity 
which  reflected  itself  on  the  future  son-in-law  of  Mme.  d'Al- 
drigger  [The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\.  Under  Louis-Philippe, 
Toby  served  the  Due  Georges  de  Maufrigneuse,  Rue  Miro- 
mesnil  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  z\. 

Tonnelet,  Maitre,  notary,  son-in-law  of  M.  Gravier, 
Isdre,  who  frequented  Benassis'  and  was  one  of  the  collabora- 
tors of  that  benevolent  doctor.  Tonnelet  was  thin,  pallid, 
of  medium  height,  habitually  dressed  in  black,  and  wore 
spectacles  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Tonsard,  Mother,  a  peasant-woman  of  Burgundy,  born 
in  1745  ;  was  one  of  the  most  formidable  enemies  that  Mont- 
cornet,  the  owner  of  the  Aigues,  and  his  head-keeper,  Justin 
Michaud,  had.  She  killed  the  favorite  hound  belonging  to 
the  keeper,  and  she  scratched  the  bark  off.  around  the  trunks 
of  the  trees  of  the  forest  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground 
in  order  to  kill  the  wood.  A  reward  of  one  thousand  francs 
was  offered  for  the  detection  of  the  author  of  this  felony ;  so 
Mother  Tonsard  allowed  herself  to  be  denounced  by  her 
granddaughter,  Marie  Tonsard,  to  bring  that  sum  of  money 
into  the  family  ;  she  was  condemned  to  five  years  in  prison, 
which  she  most  likely  did  not  serve.  Mother  Bonndbault 
committed  the  same  crimes  as  Mother  Tonsard ;  they  quar- 
reled as  to  which  one  of  the  two  should  be  denounced  for 
their  advantage,  and  finished  by  deciding  in  favor  of  it  being 
Mother  Tonsard  [The  Peasantry,  2^]. 

Tonsard,  Francois,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  about 
1773  ;  was  a  field  laborer,  smart  enough  for  anything  ;  he  had 
a  hereditary  talent,  as  shown  by  his  name,  for  pruning  trees, 
elms,  and  hedges.  Lazy  and  cunning,  Frangois  Tonsard  was 
given  an  acre  of  land  by  Sophie  Laguerre,  the  owner  of  the 
Aigues  before  Montcornet,  upon  which  he  built,  in  1795,  ^ 
tavern  called  the  Grand  I  Vert.     He  was  saved  from  the  req- 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  527 

uisition  by  Frangois  Gaubertin,  the  Aigues'  steward  at  that 
time,  at  the  request  of  Mile.  Cochet,  their  common  mistress. 
Then  he  married,  and  Gaubertin  became  the  lover  of  his  wife, 
Philippine  Fourchon ;  he  was  allowed  to  poach  freely,  and 
the  Tonsard  family  could  do  their  own  will  on  the  Aigues 
estate ;  they  completely  furnished  themselves  with  wood  from 
the  forest,  fed  two  cows  at  the  expense  of  the  owner,  and  were 
represented  during  the  harvest  by  seven  gleaners.  Constrained 
by  the  active  surveillance  of  Gaubertin's  successor,  Justin 
Michaud,  Tonsard  assassinated  him  one  night,  in  1823,  and 
later  took  part  in  the  dismemberment  of  Montcornet's  estate, 
which  was  sold  in  lots  [The  Peasantry,  J^. 

Tonsard,  Madame,  nee  Philippine  Fourchon,  wife  of 
the  foregoing;  the  daughter  of  Fourchon,  Mouche's  natural 
grandfather ;  she  was  tall  and  well  made ;  a  country  beauty ; 
of  dissolute  manners  and  depraved  tastes ;  she  made  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Grand  I  Vert  not  less  by  her  culinary  talents  than 
her  easy  coquetry.  By  her  marriage  she  had  four  children  : 
two  boys  and  two  girls  [The  Peasantry,  _R]. 

Tonsard,  Jean-Louis,  born  about  1801,  son  of  the  fore- 
going and  perhaps  ofFrangois  Gaubertin,  of  whom  Philippine 
Tonsard  was  the  mistress.  Exempted  from  military  service  in 
1821  by  a  pretended  malady  in  the  muscles  of  his  right  arm 
(by  the  protection  of  Soudry,  Rigou,  and  Gaubertin),  Jean- 
Louis  Tonsard  became  one  of  Montcornet's  and  Michaud's 
adversaries.  He  was  the  lover  of  Annette,  Rigou's  servant 
[The  Peasantry,  j^]. 

Tonsard,  Nicolas,  younger  brother  of  the  foregoing  and 
the  masculine  likeness  and  attendant  of  his  sister  Catherine ; 
he  brutally  pursued,  with  his  sister's  complicity,  Niseron's 
granddaughter  Genevieve,  surnamed  '*Pechina,"  whom  he 
tried  to  violate  [The  Peasantry,  U]. 

Tonsard,  Catherine.     See  Godain,  Madame. 

Tonsard,  Marie,  sister  of  the  foregoing;  she  had  their 
libertine  manners  and  ferocious  temper.     Bonnebault's  mis- 


528  COMPENDIUM 

tress,  she  went  to  the  Cafd  de  la  Paix  at  Soulanges  and  at- 
tacked Aglae  Socquard,  of  whom  she  was  ferociously  jealous, 
and  who  had  been  sought  in  marriage  by  her  lover  [The 
Peasantry,  Jf^]. 

Tonsard,  Reine,  without  being  bound  to  the  foregoing 
by  the  ties  of  relationship,  she  was  known  to  all  of  them,  and, 
although  most  ugly,  was  the  mistress  of  the  son  of  the  Oliviers, 
janitors  of  Valerie  Marneffe-Crevel ;  for  a  long  time  she  was 
the  confidential  chambermaid  of  that  married  courtesan  ;  but, 
bribed  by  Jacqueline  Collin,  she  finished  by  betraying  and 
ruining  the  Crevel  household  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Tony,  Louis  de  I'Estorade's  coachman  about  1840  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  I>jy\. 

Topinard,  born  about  1805  ;  an  understrapper  and  overseer 
of  the  accessories  and  properties  in  the  theatre  managed  by 
Felix  Gaudissart ;  he  trimmed  the  argand  lamps  and  made 
one  in  the  tableaux ;  he  was  afterward  charged  with  the  duty 
of  storing  the  orchestral  copies  and  placing  them  on  the 
musicians'  stands;  he  went  every  day  to  the  Rue  de  Nor- 
mandie  to  get  news  of  Sylvain  Pons,  who  was  stricken  with  a 
mortal  disease,  in  the  latter  part  of  April,  1845  'i  together  with 
Fraisier,  Villemot,  and  the  broker  Sonet  he  was  a  pall-bearer  at 
the  funeral  of  the  cousin  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville.  As  they 
left  Pere-Lachaise,  Topinard,  who  lived  in  the  Cit6  Bordin, 
Rue  de  Bondy,*  in  the  rear  of  the  Porte  Saint-Martin  theatre, 
had  compassion  on  Schmucke,  and  ended  by  receiving  him 
as  his  guest.  Topinard  was  afterward  appointed  cashier  by 
Gaudissart,  but  he  nearly  lost  his  position  for  having  tried  to 
defend  Schmucke's  interests,  which  were  opposed  to  those  of 
Pons*  legitimate  heirs;  nevertheless  Topinard  assisted  the 
dying  Schmucke  ;  he  alone  followed  the  German's  remains, 
and  took  care  to  have  him  buried  by  the  side  of  Sylvain  Pons 
[Cousin  Pons,  ac], 

*  This  is  evidently  the  Cit6  Riverin,  74  Rue  de  Bondy,  opened  in  1829 
by  the  mechanician  Riverin. 


COM&DIE   HUMAINE.  529 

Topinard,  Madame  Rosalie,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  born 
about  1815,  her  maiden-name  being  Lolotte ;  she  was  engaged 
in  the  chorus  during  the  management  of  Gaudissart's  prede- 
cessor, of  whom  she  was  the  mistress.  The  victim  of  her 
lover's  bankruptcy,  she  became  a  box-keeper  and  assisted  the 
costumiers  under  the  ensuing  administration,  1834-45.  She 
had  first  lived  in  concubinage  with  Topinard,  who  afterward 
married  her;  by  him  she  had  three  children.  She  attended 
Pons'  requiem  mass;  after  Schmucke  was  welcomed  in  the 
Cite  Bordin  by  her  husband,  she  watched  over  the  last  mo- 
ments of  the  musician  [Cousin  Pons,  Q(^\ 

Topinard,  the  eldest  son  of  the  foregoing,  figured  on  the 
stage  in  Gaudissart's  company  [Cousin  Pons,  cc]. 

Topinard,  Olga,  sister  of  the  foregoing;  a  blonde  with 
flaxen  hair;  she  was  quite  young  and  of  the  German  type; 
this  particularly  drew  to  her  Schmucke's  affection,  when  he 
was  installed  in  the  house  of  the  understrapper  in  Gaudissart's 
theatre  [Cousin  Pons,  05] . 

Torlonia,  Due,  a  name  cited  by  Baron  de  Nucingen, 
December,  1829,  as  being  that  of  one  of  his  friends ;  he  pro- 
nounced it  ''Dorlonia."  The  duke  had  ordered  a  magnifi- 
cent, carpet,  of  which  he  considered  the  cost  was  too  much  ; 
the  baron  bought  it  to  ornament  the  "  leetle  balace "  of 
Esther  van  Gobseck,  Rue  Saint-Georges.  Due  Torlonia  be- 
longed to  a  famous  Roman  family,  very  hospitable  to  strangers, 
and  of  French  origin.  The  primitive  name  was  Tourlogne 
[The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 

Torpille,  La,  Esther  van  Gobseck's  nickname. 

Touchard,  father  and  son,  formerly  of  Toulouse,  during 
the  Restoration,  ran  a  service  of  vehicles  from  No.  51  Riie  du 
Faubourg  Saint-Denis,  Paris,  to  Beaumont-sur-Oise,  at  the 
time  when  Pierrotin  was  the  messager-conducteur  between  Paris 
and  risle  Adam  [A  Start  in  Life,  s\ 

Touches,  Mademoiselle  Felicite  des,  born  at  Gudrande 
in  1 791;  a  relative  of  the  Grandlieus ;  in  no  way  connected  with 
34 


530  COMPENDIUM 

the  family  des  Touches  of  Touraine,  to  which  the  ambassador 
of  the  Regency  belonged,  who  was  more  celebrated  as  a  comic 
poet.  She  found  herself  an  orphan  in  1793  :  her  father,  major 
of  the  guards  of  the  gates,  was  killed  in  the  march  on  the 
Tuileries,  August  10,  1792;  her  younger  brother,  a  young  guard 
in  the  corps,  was  massacred  at  Carmes ;  finally  her  mother 
died  of  grief  a  few  days  after  the  last  catastrophe.  She  was 
then  confided  to  her  maternal  aunt,  Mile,  de  Faucombe,  a 
nun  at  Chelles ;  *  she  is  then  seen  with  her  at  Faucombe,  a 
considerable  estate  situated  near  Nantes,  and  soon  after  she  is 
found  thrown  in  prison,  along  with  her  aunt,  accused  of 
being  an  emissary  of  Pitt  and  Cobourg.  Thermidor  9  liber- 
ated her,  but  Mile,  de  Faucombe  died  of  fright ;  Felicite  was 
then  sent  to  her  maternal  greatuncle,  M.  de  Faucombe,  an 
archaeologist  at  Nantes,  her  nearest  relation.  She  taught  her- 
self *'  like  a  boy"  ;  she  had  an  immense  library  at  her  disposal, 
which  allowed  her  to  acquire,  while  still  young,  a  great  fund 
of  information.  The  literary  vocation  which  developed  itself 
in  Mile,  des  Touches  was  assisted  by  her  old  uncle — we  know 
of  three  works  written  by  him — and  in  1822  she  made  her 
debut  in  two  volumes  of  pieces  in  the  style  of  Lope  de  Vega 
and  Shakespeare,t  which  produced  a  kind  of  artistic  revolu- 
tion. She  then  took,  and  never  afterward  abandoned,  the 
pseudonym  of  Camille  Maupin,  and  lived  a  brilliant  and  inde- 
pendent life.  Her  eighty  thousand  livres  of  income ;  her 
castle  des  Touches,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Guerande,  Loire- 
Inferieure;  her  Parisian  hotel.  Rue  du  Mont-Blanc; J  her 
birth,  alliances,  and  powerful  services,  threw  a  veil  over  her 
dissipations,  and  allowed  only  her  genius  to  be  seen.  Mile, 
des  Touches  counted  among  her  lovers :  a  fair  insipid  man, 

*  Mile,  de  Faucombe  may  have  known  Mesdemoiselles  de  Beaus^ant 
and  de  Langeais,  at  Paris. 

f  This  was  the  procedure  of  Merim^e,  the  author  of  the  *'  Theatre  de 
Clara  Gazul." 

\  Now  the  Rue  de  la  Chausee-d'Antin, 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  531 

about  1817;  then  an  original  mind,  a  skeptic,  Camille  Mau- 
pin's  real  creator;  following  him,  Gennaro  Conti,  whom  she 
knew  in  Rome,  1820;  and  Claud  Vignon,  a  critic  of  repute 
[Beatrix,  JP — A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilf]. 
Felicite  patronized  Joseph  Bridau,  the  romantic  painter  who 
was  scorned  by  the  middle-classes  [A  Bachelor's  Establish- 
ment, e/].  She  gave  evidence  of  her  sympathy  for  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  whom  she  failed  in  getting  married,  and  pro- 
tected the  poet's  mistress,  Coralie  the  actress ;  for  during 
their  amours  Felicite  des  Touches  was  in  favor  at  the  Gym- 
nase.  The  anonymous  collaborator  in  a  comedy  in  which 
appeared  Leontine  Volnys — the  little  Fay  of  her  day — she 
was  about  to  write  a  second  vaudeville  in  which  Coralie  was 
to  create  the  principal  character.  When  the  young  manager 
for  the  directors,  Poirson-Cerfberr,*  took  to  his  bed  and  died, 
Felicite  bore  the  cost  of  his  burial  and  arranged  for  the  funeral 
service  to  be  celebrated  at  Notre-Dame  de  Bonne-Nouvelle. 
Mile,  des  Touches  gave  dinners  on  Wednesdays :  Levasseur, 
Conti,  Mesdames  Pasta,  Cinti,  Fodor,  de  Bargeton,  and  d'Es- 
pard,  among  others,  assisted  at  her  receptions  [A  Distinguished 
Provincial  at  Paris,  ilfJT ].  Although  a  Legitimist,  the  same 
as  the  Marquise  d'Espard,  she  flung  open  the  doors  of  her 
salon  after  the  Revolution  of  July,  when  she  met  her  neighbor, 
Leontine  de  Serizy,  and  Lord  Dudley,  Lady  Barimore,  the 
Nucingens,  Joseph  Bridau,  Mesdames  de  Cadignan  and  de 
Montcornet,  the  Comte  de  Vandenesse,  Daniel  d'Arthez,  and 
Mrae.  de  Rochegude  {alias  Rochefide).  Canalis,  Rastignac, 
Laginski,  Montriveau,  Bianchon,  Marsay,  and  Blondet  were 
at  her  house  and  joined  in  the  piquant  recital  of  a  steely  tone 
[Another  Study  of  Woman,  ^.  Sometime  afterward  Mile, 
des  Touches  gave  advice  to  Marie  de  Vandenesse  and  blamed 
her  for  seeking  love  outside  her  marriage  [A  Daughter  of 

*  The  vaudevillists  Delestre  and  Poirson,  together  with  A,  Cerf  berr, 
founded  the  Gymnase-Dramatique,  December  20,  1 820;  the  brothers  Cerf- 
berr,  Delestre  and  Poirson,  remained  its  administrators  until  1844. 


532  COMPENDIUM 

Eve,  F].  In  1836,  while  traveling  across  Italy  with  Leon  de 
Lora,  the  landscape  painter,  and  Claud  Vignon,  she  assisted 
at  a  festival  given  by  the  French  consul  at  Genoa,  Maurice 
de  I'Hostal;  he  there  spoke  of  the  crosses  in  the  Bauvan 
household  [Honorine,  fe].  In  1837,  after  having  instituted 
Calyste  du  Guenic — whom  she  adored,  but  to  whom  she  refused 
to  abandon  herself — as  her  universal  legatee,  Felicite  des 
Touches  retired  to  a  convent  of  the  order  of  Salnt-Frangois, 
Nantes.  Among  the  works  of  this  other  George  Sand  there 
is  a  signal  one,  'Me  Nouveau  Promethee,"  an  audacious  book, 
and  a  little  Roman  autobiography,  in  which  she  narrates  her 
mistaken  passion  for  Conti,  an  admirable  work  which  is  re- 
garded as  the  counterpart  of  **  Adolphe"  by  Benjamin  Con- 
stant [Beatrix,  JP — Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 

Toupillier,  born  about  1750;  of  a  wretched  family  which 
consisted  of  three  sisters  and  five  brothers,  of  whom  one  was 
Mme.  Cardinal's  father.  The  old  drum-major  of  the  French 
Guards  became  the  sexton  at  Saint-Sulpice  church,  Paris ;  he 
was  the  holy-water  sprinkler  and  distributer,  acting  as  a 
model  in  the  interim.  Toupillier,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Restoration,  was  under  suspicion  of  being  a  Bonapartist, 
and,  being  guilty  of  indelicacy,  lost  his  employment  at  the 
church,  but  was  allowed  to  beg  at  the  porch  as  a  privileged 
mendicant ;  he  largely  benefited  by  his  new  position,  for  he 
more  than  ever  aroused  the  pity  of  the  faithful,  principally 
because  he  was  thought  to  be  a  centenarian.  The  diamonds 
which  Charles  Crochard  stole  from  Mile.  Beaumesnil  he  was 
obliged  to  some  way  disembarrass  himself  of,  so  he  deposited 
them  with  Toupillier  for  a  short  time.  Toupillier  denied 
having  seen  them,  and  the  stolen  jewels  remained  with  him. 
Corentin,  the  famous  detective,  watched  the  beggar  of  Saint- 
Sulpice,  and  surprised  that  new  Cardillac  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  diamonds,  on  the  Rue  du  Coeur- Volant.*     He 

*  This  street  at  that  time  formed  part  of  the  Rue  Gr6goire-de-Tours 
and  ran  from  the  Boulevard  Saint-Germain  to  the  Rue  des  Quatre -Vents. 


comAdie  JWMAINE.  53S 

was  allowed  to  keep  them  on  condition  of  making  Lydie 
Peyrade,  Corentin's  ward  and  the  daughter  of  Mile.  Beau- 
mesnil,  his  universal  legatee.  Further,  Corentin  compelled 
Toupillier  to  reside  in  the  same  house  as  himself,  on  the  Rue 
Honore-Chevalier,  that  he  might  keep  his  eye  upon  him. 
Toupillier  at  that  time  possessed  an  income  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred francs  in  the  Funds,  and  a  house,  Rue  Notre-Dame  de 
Nazareth,  a  building  for  which  he  had  paid  forty-eight  thou- 
sand francs ;  he  was  an  abject  appearing  rogue  of  a  beggar, 
but  when  the  church  was  closed  he  went  to  dine  at  the 
Restaurant  Lathuile,*  situated  near  the  Clichy  barrier,  and 
at  night  went  drunken  to  bed  on  excellent  Roussilon  wine. 
In  spite  of  the  attempt  of  Mme.  Cardinal  and  -C^rizet  to 
break  into  his  closet  which  contained  his  casket  of  diamonds, 
when  the  beggar  died,  in  1840,  Lydie  Peyrade,  now  become 
Mme.  Theodose  de  la  Peyrade,  inherited  everything  that 
Toupillier  owned  [The  Middle  Classes,  ee]. 

Toupinet,  a  Parisian  workingman  ;  married  and  the  father 
of  a  family ;  he  stole  his  wife's  savings,  the  result  of  her  own 
labor.  Toupinet  was  imprisoned  in  1828 — without  doubt  it 
was  for  debt  [The  Commission  in  Lunacy,  c]. 

Toupinet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  known  under 
the  name  of  la  Pomponne;  she  was  a  dealer  in  seasonable 
foods;  she  lived,  in  1828,  on  the  Rue  du  Petit-Banquier, 
Paris ;  she  was  unhappy  in  her  married  life ;  she  obtained  a 
loan  of  ten  francs  from  the  charitable  J.  J.  Popinot  with  which 
to  buy  her  necessary  merchandise  [The  Commission  in  Lu- 
nacy, c]. 

Tournan,  hatter.  Rue  Saint-Martin,  Paris ;  he  supplied 
Poiret  junior,  who  took  to  him,  July  3,  1823,  his  head  cover- 
ing, treated  with  pork  fat  by  J.  J.  Bixiou,  the  practical  joker 
[Les  Employes,  cc\ 

Tours-Minieres,  Bernard-Polydor  Bryond,  Baron 
DES,  a  gentleman  of  Alengon,  born  about  1772;  from  1793 
*  At  that  time  a  humble  tavern. 


534  COMPENDIUM 

he  was  one  of  the  most  active  of  Comte  de  Lille's*  emissaries 
in  his  conspiracy  against  the  Republic.  Thanked  by  that 
prince,  he  was  rewarded  by  being  allowed  to  repossess  his 
estates,  of  which  he  had  been  for  a  long  time  despoiled  ;  in 
1807  he  married  Henriette  Le  Chantre  de  la  Chanterie,  with 
the  assistance  of  the  Royalists,  of  whom  he  was  **  the  darling." 
He  seems  to  have  been  associated  in  the  reactionary  insurrec- 
tion movement  in  the  West  in  1809  ;  he  there  threw  aside  his 
wife,  compromised  himself,  and  disappeared.  Returning  se- 
cretly to  the  country,  disguised  in  dress  and  under  the  name 
of  Lemarchand,  he  aided  justice  in  the  discovery  of  the  plot 
and  afterward  went  to  Paris,  where  he  became  the  famous 
police-spy  Contenson  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\  He 
knew  Peyrade ;  that  old  pupil  of  Lenoir  gave  him  the  sig- 
nificant sobriquet  of  **  Philosophy."  He  was  one  of 
Fouche's  agents  during  the  Empire ;  he  cynically  abandoned 
himself  to  his  passions,  and  lived  in  vice  and  dissipation. 
During  the  Restoration  Louchard  engaged  him  for  Nucingen, 
who  was  smitten  by  Esther  van  Gobseck.  He  was  in  his 
service,  together  with  Peyrade  and  Corentin,  to  protect  him 
against  Jacques  Collin's  snares ;  they  pursued  the  pretended 
Carlos  Herrera,  who  had  taken  refuge  on  the  roof  of  a  house, 
but  Contenson  was  thrown  from  the  top  of  the  building  by 
his  adversary ;  he  died  of  the  fall  one  day  in  the  winter  of 
1829-30  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Z\ 

Tours-Minieres,  Baronne  Bryond  des,  nee  Henriette 
Le  Chantre  de  la  Chanterie,  1789,  wife  of  the  foregoing; 
the  only  daughter  of  M.  and  Mme.  Le  Chantre  de  la  Chanterie. 
'  When  she  married  her  mother  was  a  widow.  Thanks  to  the 
machinations  of  Tours-Minieres,  she  found  herself  flung  in  the 
company  of  Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph  Rifoel,  Chevalier 
de  Vissard ;  she  became  his  mistress,  and  went  with  him  on 
the  Royalist  campaign  in  I'Orne,  1809.  Betrayed  by  her 
husband,  she  was  executed  in  18 10,  in  conformity  with  a  sen- 
*  Louis  XVIII. 


COMAdIE  HUMAINE.  635 

tence  of  capital  punishment  by  the  court  of  which  Bouriac 
was  the  public  prosecutor  and  Mergi  the  president  [The 
Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Trailles,  Comte  Maxime  de,  born  in  1791;  belonged  to 
a  family  which  was  descended  from  a  valet  of  Louis  XI.  and 
was  ennobled  by  Frangois  I.  This  perfect  resemblance  of  a 
Parisian  "condottiere "  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  became  one  of  Napoleon's  pages.  He  successively 
worshiped  Sarah  Gobseck  and  Anastasie  de  Restaud;  de 
Trailles,  who  was  already  ruined,  ruined  both  those  women ; 
the  passion  for  play  dominated  him,  and  his  vagaries  knew 
no  bounds  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — Father  Goriot,  G — M.  Gob- 
seck, gr].  In  Paris  he  patronized  Vicomte  Savinien  de  Por- 
tenduere,  who  was  then  a  novice  in  high  life ;  he  was  later  to 
have  acted  as  a  second  of  his  in  a  duel  to  be  fought  with 
Desir^  Minoret,  but  this  was  prevented  by  the  accidental 
death  of  the  latter  [Ursula  Mirouet,  JST].  His  cleverness 
generally  served  him  against  his  creditors,  which  formed  a 
legion  about  him,  but  nevertheless  they  once,  in  spite  of  his 
cunning,  got  even  with  him  through  Cerizet.  M.  de  Trailles 
at  that  time  kept  Antonia  Chocardelle  in  a  modest  style  as 
the  manager  of  a  reading-room  situated  on  the  Rue  Coquenard, 
near  Rue  Pigalle,  where  Trailles  lived ;  a  certain  Hortense, 
who  was  *' protected"  by  Lord  Dudley,  seconded  the  cunning 
Cerizet,  who  was  a  consummate  comedian  [A  Man  of  Busi- 
ness, I — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DD\  Under  the  Restora- 
tion Maxime  de  Trailles  was  accused  of  Bonapartism  and 
reproached  with  an  unblushing  corruption;  the  ''citizen 
Royalty"  welcomed  him.  Marsay  more  than  others  served 
the  fortune  of  the  count ;  he  charged  him  with  delicate  po- 
litical missions  which  were  marvelously  executed  [The  Secrets 
of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^1.  Comte  de  Trailles  was  very 
lavish;  he  was  a  guest  of  Josepha  Mirah  ;  he  honored  with  his 
presence  the  inaugural  f§te  in  her  apartments.  Rue  de  la  Ville- 
I'Eveque  [Cousin  Betty,  w^    When  Marsay  died  Trailles  lost 


536  COMPENDIUM 

his  prestige.  The  influential  minister,  Eugene  de  Rastignac, 
became  somewhat  of  a  puritan,  and  had  but  little  considera- 
tion for  him.  M.  de  Trailles  was  one  of  the  friends  of  an 
intimate  friend  of  that  statesman,  the  brilliant  Colonel  Fran- 
chessini.  Nucingen's  son-in-law  perhaps  had  not  forgotten 
Mme.  de  Restaud's  misfortunes,  and  possibly  cherished  rancor 
against  their  author.  Nevertheless  he  employed  Maxime  de 
Trailles,  always  a  familiar  in  the  Marquise  d'Espard's  salon, 
in  the  faubourg  Saint-Honore,  and  the  painted  quadragenarian, 
weighed  down  with  debts,  was  sent  to  Arcis  to  turn  the  elec- 
tion in  that  place  to  the  benefit  of  the  ministry,  in  the  spring 
of  1839.  Trailles  cunningly  schemed  ;  he  tried  to  bring  over 
the  Cinq-Cygnes,  taking  as  his  candidate  Phileas  Beauvisage; 
he  also  sought  the  hand  of  the  wealthy  heiress  Cecile-Renee 
Beauvisage,  but  he  was  frustrated  in  both  those  enterprises 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  DJ)].  M.  de  Trailles  excelled  in 
extending  a  helping  hand  in  domestic  crises;  M.  d'Ajuda 
Pinto,  Abbe  Brossette,  and  Mme.  de  Grandlieu,  by  the  assist- 
ance of  Rusticoli  de  la  Palferine,  reclaimed  Calyste  du  Guenic 
and  reconciled  his  household  and  that  of  Arthur  de  Rochefide 
[Beatrix,  J^].  Shortly  after  May,  1841,  Trailles  was  a  min- 
isterial deputy  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vb\. 

Trans,  Mademoiselle  de,  a  young  woman  of  Bordeaux 
who  wished  to  get  married ;  like  Mademoiselle  de  Belor,  she 
was  waiting  for  a  husband,  when  Paul  de  Manerville  married 
Natalie  Evangelista  [A  Marriage  Settlement,  acC\> 

Transon,  M.  and  Mme.,  wholesale  crockery  merchants, 
Rue  de  Lesdigui^res,  Paris;  about  1824  they  frequented  the 
Baudoyers  and  Saillards,  their  neighbors  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Travot,  a  general;  in  1815,  with  his  batallions,  he  besieged 
Gu^rande,  a  fortress  defended  by  Baron  du  Guenic,  who 
finally  evacuated  it,  but,  being  surrounded  by  Chouans,  he 
gained  the  woods  and  returned  to  the  campaign  on  the  second 
return  of  the  Bourbons  [Beatrix,  'P\ 

Trognon,  Maitre,  a  Parisian  notary,  who  had  the  devo- 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  537 

tion  of  his  neighbor  in  the  quarter,  Maitre  Fraisier;  in  the 
years  1844-45  ^^  lived  on  the  Rue  Saint-Louis-au-Marais.* 
He  preceded  his  colleague,  Leopold  Hannequin,  in  taking  the 
instructions  for  the  last  will  and  testament  of  the  dying  Syl- 
vain  Pons  [Cousin  Pons,  x\. 

Troisville,  Guibelin,  Vicomte  de,  whose  name  was  pro- 
nounced Treville,  so  that  during  the  Empire  his  numerous 
family  took  the  name  of  Guibelin  ;  he  belonged  to  a  noble 
house,  was  an  ardent  Royalist,  and  was  well  known  in  Alen^on 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\  Troisville  was  often,  with- 
out doubt,  together  with  Chevalier  de  Valois  and  Marquis  d'Es- 
grignon,  the  correspondent  of  the  Vendean  chiefs,  for  we 
know  the  department  of  the  Orne  counted  him  amongst  the 
leading  insurrectionists,  1799  [The  Chouans,  ^].  The  Bour- 
bons for  this  restored  their  estates  and  showed  favor  to  the 
Troisvilles,  many  of  whom  became  deputies  and  peers  of 
France.  During  the  emigration,  Guibelin,  Vicomte  de  Trois- 
ville, served  in  Russia ;  he  married  a  Muscovite,  the  daughter 
of  the  Princess  Scherbelloff,  and,  during  the  year  181 6,  re- 
turned to  locate  in  the  midst  of  the  Alen9on  folk.  For  a 
time  the  guest  of  Rose-Victoire  Cormon  (afterward  Mme.  du 
Bousquier),  he  innocently  aroused  a  nuptial  hope  in  that  lady. 
The  vicomte  was  of  a  very  reserved  nature,  and  he  had  neg- 
lected to  make  known  the  fact  that  he  was  Scherbelloff 's 
son-in-law,  and  the  legitimate  father  of  the  future  Marechale 
de  Montcornet  [The  Old  Maid,  aa\.  Guibelin  de  Troisville 
was  faithful  to  the  Esgrignons'  salon,  and  there  met  the  La 
Roche-Guyons  and  the  Casterans,f  and  some  few  of  their 
relations;  but  this  intimacy  ceased  when  Mile.  Virginie  de 
Troisville  became  Mme.  de  Montcornet  [The  Collection  of 
Antiquities,  aa\.  Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  that  union, 
which  he  considered  a  mesalliance,  the  vicomte  did  not  sulk 
with  his  daughter  and  son-in-law,  but  was  their  guest  at  their 
estate  of  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  JK]. 

*  Now  the  Rue  Turenne.  f  ^^^  written  Casleran. 


538  COMPENDIUM 

Trompe-la-mort,  Jacques  Collin's  nickname. 

Troubert,  Abbe  Hyacinthe,  a  priest  who  was  appreciated 
by  M.  de  Bourbonne ;  he  made  his  way  under  the  Restoration 
and  Louis-Philippe ;  he  was  successively  canon  and  vicar- 
general  of  Tours,  ending  as  bishop  of  that  city.  His  first 
appearance  in  Touraine  revealed  him  as  a  profound  man, 
ambitious,  and  redoubtable,  who  hated  strongly,  but  masked 
his  rancor.  By  the  secret  aid  of  the  Congregation  and 
Sophie  Gamard's  complicity  he  abused  Abbe  Birotteau  and 
despoiled  him  of  all  his  heritage  come  to  him  from  Abb6 
Chapeloud,  who  had  hated  him  with  a  lively  hate,  but  whom 
Troubert  triumphed  over  in  spite  of  the  finesse  of  the  defunct 
priest.  Abbe  Troubert  made  himself  in  favor  with  the  Lis- 
tom^res,  who  were  Frangois  Birotteau' s  defenders  [The  Abb6 
Birotteau,  ^].  At  Troyes  Monseigneur  Troubert  frequented, 
about  1839,  the  Cinq-Cygnes,  Hauteserres,  Cadignans,  Mau- 
frigneuses,  and  Daniel  d'Arthez,  all  at  the  time  more  or  less 
engaged  in  the  electoral  canvass  of  Champagne  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  T>iy\ 

Troussenard,  Doctor,  a  physician  at  Havre  under  the 
Restoration,  at  the  time  when  the  Mignons  de  la  Bastie  lived 
in  the  sub-prefecture  of  the  Seine-Inf^rieure  [Modeste  Mig- 
non.JT]. 

Trudon,  a  Parisian  grocer,  who  supplied  Cesar  Birotteau, 
December  17,  18 18,  with  two  hundred  francs'  worth  of  wax- 
candles  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

TuUia,  Mme.  du  Bruel's  picturesque  surname. 

TuUoye,  the  name  of  the  owner  of  a  field  near  Angoul^me, 
where,  in  the  fall  of  1821,  M.  de  Bargeton  seriously  wounded 
M.  de  Chandour,  who  had  provoked  him  to  a  duel.  This 
name  of  TuUoye  gave  occasion,  under  the  circumstances,  for 
a  ready  pun  on  the  event  [Lost  Illusions,  1^\ 

Turquet,  Marguerite,  born  about  18 16,  more  commonly 
known  by  the  sobriquet  of  Malaga,  also  surnamed  '*the  As- 
pasia  of  the  Cirque-Olympique  " ;   on  her  debut  she   was  a 


COMEDIE   HUMAINE.  539 

horsewoman  in  the  famous  hippodrome  of  the  outlandish 
Bouther ;  she  afterward  became  a  Parisian  star  at  the  Franconi 
theatre,  Champs-Elysees,  and,  in  the  winter,  on  the  Boulevard 
du  Crime.  Mile.  Turquet  lived,  1837,  on  the  fifth  floor  of  a 
house.  Rue  des  Fosses-du-Temple  (disappeared  since  1862), 
when  Thaddee  Paz  richly  installed  her  elsewhere,  and  she 
played  the  part  of  imaginary  mistress  to  the  Pole  [The  Imag- 
inary Mistress,  ll\.  This  position  was  the  making  of  Mar- 
guerite; she  shone  most  brilliantly  amongst  the  artists  and 
courtesans.  She  had  a  genuine  protector  and  keeper  in 
Maitre  Cardot,  a  notary  in  the  Place  du  Chatelet,  and  for 
a  real  lover  a  quite  young  musician  [Muse  of  the  Depart- 
ment, CC\  A  girl  of  intelligence,  she  took  care  of  Maitre 
Cardot  and  formed  a  salon  in  which  Maitre  Desroches,  about 
1840,  finely  narrated  the  strange  contest  between  two  roues: 
Trailles  and  Cerizet,  one  the  debtor,  the  other  the  creditor; 
the  struggle  was  crowned  by  the  victory  of  the  second  [A 
Man  of  Business,  l\  In  1838  Malaga-Turquet  was  present 
at  Jos6pha  Mirah's  inaugural  festival,  when  she  was  installed 
on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-l'Eveque  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 


U 

Urbain,  the  servant  of  Soudry,  mayor  of  Soulanges,  dur- 
ing the  Restoration ;  he  was  an  old  trooper,  who  was  on  the 
point  of  becoming  a  gendarme,  but  instead  entered  the  service 
of  the  municipal  officer  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Urraca,  an  old  Spaniard,  foster-father  of  Baron  de  Ma- 
cumer ;  the  only  one  of  his  master's  people  who  remained  to 
him  after  his  ruin  and  exile  to  France ;  Urraca  the  best  pre- 
pared the  baron's  chocolate  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  1^]. 

Urraca  y   Lora,*  Mademoiselle,  the  paternal  aunt  of 

*  Mile.  Urraca,  nie  Lora,  has  her  biography  given  in  this  place,  as  the 
name  of  Uracca  precedes  that  of  Lora. 


540  COMPENDIUM 

Leon  de  Lora;  she  remained  an  old  maid  in  1845,  living 
wretchedly  enough  in  a  commune  in  the  department  of  the 
Eastern  Pyrenees,  together  with  the  father  and  the  eldest 
brother  of  the  artist  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  i^]. 

Ursule,  Abb6  Bonnet's  servant,  1829,  at  Montegnac, 
where  her  master  was  the  cure ;  a  woman  of  canonical  age, 
she  received  Abbe  de  Rastignac,  who  was  charged  by  the 
bishop  of  Limoges  to  gain  over  the  cure  of  the  village  to 
which  Jean-Francois  Tascheron  belonged,  and  who  was  sen- 
tenced to  death,  and  to  try  and  bring  him  into  *'  the  bosom 
of  the  church."  Ursule  was  informed  by  Abbe  de  Rastignac 
that  a  short  reprieve  had  been  accorded  the  assassin  ;  some- 
what imaginative  and  talkative,  she  repeated  the  news  to  all 
the  village,  when  she  went  to  obtain  provisions  for  the  dinner 
offered  by  Cure  Bonnet  to  Abbe  de  Rastignac  [The  Country 
Parson,  F\ 

Ursule,  a  fat  Picardian,  the  perfumer  Ragon's  cook,  Rue 
Saint-Honore,  Paris,  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century ; 
about  1793  ^^^  gave  an  amorous  education  to  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  a  little  Tourangeau  peasant  who  had  been  newly  engaged 
as  errand-boy  by  the  Ragons.  *'  Lascivious  and  cross,  crafty 
and  thievish,  egotistical  and  drunken,"  Ursule  bruised  Cesar's 
candor;  but  she  deserted  him  two  years  later  for  a  young 
Picard  refractory,  lying  hidden  in  Paris,  who  owned  some 
acres  of  land;  she  afterward  married  him  [C^sar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Uxelles,  Marquise  d*,  allied  to  Princess  de  Blamont- 
Chauvray  and  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt ;  she  was 
C6sar  Birotteau's  godmother  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Uxelles,  Duchesse  d',  born  about  1769  ;  mother  of  Diane 
d'Uxelles;  her  lover  was  the  Due  de  Maufrigneuse ;  about 
1814  she  gave  him  her  daughter  in  marriage;  ten  years  later 
she  retired  to  her  estate  of  Uxelles,  where  she  lived  devoted 
to  avarice  [The  Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ;§;]. 


C0M£DIE  HUMAINE.  541 


Vaillant,  Madame,  wife  of  a  cabinet-maker  in  the  faubourg 
Saint-Antoine ;  the  mother  of  three  children  ;  in  1819-20  she 
had  charge  of  the  household  of  a  young  author,*  then  residing 
in  a  garret,  on  the  Rue  Lesdiguieres,  Paris,  for  which  she  was 
paid  forty  sous  a  month ;  the  rest  of  her  time  she  was  engaged 
in  turning  a  crank  for  a  certain  mechanic,  for  which  she  did 
not  receive  more  than  ten  sous  per  day.  This  woman  and  her 
husband  were  of  the  highest  probity.  At  the  wedding  of  one 
of  Mme.  Vaillant's  sisters,  the  young  writer  met  Father  Canet 
(Facino  Cane),  a  clarionet  at  the  Quinze-Vingts ;  he  narrated 
his  singular  history  to  the  author  [Facino  Cane,  Tz\.  In  1818 
Mme.  Vaillant,  then  quite  old,  was  housekeeper  to  the  old 
Republican,  Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  Rue  des  Bourdonnais ; 
but  the  old  merchant  spared  his  servant :  he  would  not  even 
allow  her  to  black  his  shoes  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Valdes,  Paquita,  born  in  the  Antilles  about  1793;  the 
daughter  of  a  slave  bought  in  Georgia  for  her  rare  beauty ; 
she  lived,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Restoration  and  during  the 
Hundred  Days,  in  the  hotel  San-Real,  Rue  Saint-Lazare, 
Paris,  with  her  mother  and  foster-father,  Christemio.  Henri 
de  Marsay  met  her  in  April,  181 5,  in  the  Tuileries'  gardens; 
she  was  smitten  by  him  and  consented  to  receive  him  secretly ; 
she  abandoned  herself  to  him:  but  during  the  transports  of 
love  she  cried  out,  by  habit,  "Oh!  Mariquita !  "  and  so 
infuriated  her  lover  that  he  tried  to  kill  her.  He  was 
not  able  to  do  it  at  that  time,  so  with  some  members  of  the 
famous  Thirteen  he  revisited  her  for  that  purpose,  but  found 
her  already  assassinated :  the  Marquise  de  San-Real  was  de 
Marsay's  own  sister;  she  was  ferociously  jealous  of  the  favors 
shown  by  the  young  girl  to  a  man,  and  she  mangled  her  with  a 
*  Honor6  de  Balzac;  Mme.  Vaillant  was  his  servant. 


542  COMPENDIUM 

number  of  blows  with  a  poniard.  Kept  within  doors  since 
she  was  twelve  years  old,  Paquita  Valdes  knew  neither  how  to 
read  nor  write;  she  spoke  English  and  Spanish.  The  singular 
color  of  her  eyes  caused  her  to  be  surnamed  *'The  Girl 
with  Golden  Eyes"  by  some  young  men,  Paul  de  Manerville 
amongst  others,  who  had  noticed  her  when  promenading  [The 
Girl  with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  II.]. 

Valdez,  a  Spanish  admiral,  was  the  constitutional  minister 
of  King  Ferdinand  VII.,  in  1820.  Obliged  to  flee  at  the  time 
of  the  reaction,  he  embarked  in  an  English  vessel.  He  was 
saved  by  this  means,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Baron  de 
Macumer,  who  warned  him  in  time  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  F]. 

Valentin,  De,  head  of  a  historical  Auvergnaut  house 
which  had  been  reduced  to  indigence  and  obscurity ;  was  the 
cousin  of  the  Due  de  Navarreins.*  He  came  to  Paris  under 
the  Monarchy  and  there  achieved,  "in  the  very  heart  of 
power,"  a  position  of  importance,  which  he  lost  at  the  advent 
of  the  Revolution.  Under  the  Empire  he  acquired  several 
of  the  estates  given  by  the  Emperor  to  his  generals,  but  the  fall 
of  Napoleon  ruined  him  completely.  He  strictly  brought  up 
his  only  son  Raphael,  on  whom  he  counted  for  the  rehabilita- 
tion of  his  house.  He  died  of  grief,  six  months  after  having 
paid  his  creditors,  in  the  autumn  of  1826.  The  coat-of-arms 
of  the  House  of  Valentin  consisted  of  a  golden  eagle  on  a 
sable  field  crowned  in  silver,  the  bird  having  beak  and  talons 
extended  in  an  attitude  of  aggression.  It  bore  this  device  : 
Non  cecidit  animus  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A.']. 

Valentin,  Madame  de,  nee  Barbe-Marie  O'Flaherty, 
wife  of  the  foregoing ;  the  heiress  of  a  wealthy  house ;  she 
died  young,  leaving  to  her  only  son  a  little  island  in  the  Loire 
[The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 

Valentin,  Marquis  Raphael  DE,f  the  only  son  of  the 

*  Owner  of  a  magnificent  h6tel  in  Paris,  situated  on  the  Rue  du  Bac. 

f  During  the  year  1851,  at  the  Ambigu-Comique,  a  drama  by  Alphonse 
Arnault  and  Louis  Judicis  was  played  in  which  Raphael  de  Valentin's 
life  was  reproduced. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  643 

foregoing;  born  in  1804,  probably  at  Paris,  where  he  was 
raised.  He  lost  his  mother  at  an  early  age,  and,  after  an  un- 
happy childhood,  on  the  death  of  his  father  did  not  receive 
more  than  eleven  or  twelve  hundred  francs,  on  which  he  lived 
for  three  years  at  a  cost  of  one  franc  per  day  at  the  hotel  Saint- 
Quentin,  Rue  des  Cordiers.  He  there  accomplished  two  great 
works :  a  comedy  which  would  have  made  him  famous  in  a 
day,  and  a  '* Theory  of  the  Will,"  a  long  work,  like  that  of 
Louis  Lambert's,  destined  to  complete  the  works  of  Mesmer, 
Lavater,  Gall,  and  Bichat.  Raphael  received  the  degree  of 
doctor,  but  was  intended  by  his  father  to  make  his  way  in 
politics.  Reduced  to  extreme  poverty,  deprived  of  his  last 
resource,  the  little  isle  in  the  Loire,  his  maternal  heritage,  he 
intended  to  commit  suicide,  1830,  when  a  foreign  merchant 
of  curiosities  on  the  Quai  Voltaire,  into  whose  store  he  had 
gone  by  chance,  made  him  a  present  of  an  extraordinary 
piece  of  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  the  possession  of  which  would  pro- 
cure him  his  every  desire,  but  with  an  abridgment  of  his  life. 
Shortly  afterward  he  was  invited  to  a  sumptuous  repast  by 
Frederic  Taillefer,  and  while  there  Raphael  found  himself 
the  next  day  heir  to  six  millions  of  francs ;  but  he  died  of 
consumption  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  in  the  arms  of  Pauline 
Gaudin,  whom  he  loved  and  by  whom  he  was  beloved ;  he 
vainly  tried  to  possess  her  by  a  supreme  effort.  As  a  million- 
aire Raphael  de  Valentin  lived  in  a  mansion  on  the  Rue  de 
Varenne ;  the  friend  of  Rastignac  and  Blondet,  and  guarded 
by  his  faithful  servitor  Jonathas.  Previously  he  had  foolishly 
loved  a  certain  Comtesse  Foedora.  Neither  the  waters  of  Aix 
nor  those  of  Mont-Dore,  successively  tried,  could  restore  his 
health,  which  was  irremediably  compromised  [The  Wild  Ass' 
Skin,  A\. 

Valentine,  the  Christian  name  of  the  heroine  of  a  melo- 
drama* in  two  acts  by  Scribe  and  de  Melesville,  performed  at 

*  Mme.  Eugenie  Sauvage,  still  living  in  1 896,  played  the  principal 
character. 


544  COMPENDIUM 

the  Gymnase-Dramatique,  January  4,  1836;  more  than  twenty 
years  after  the  death  of  M.  and  Mme.  de  Merret,  which  piece 
retraced,  more  or  less  accurately,  their  tragic  adventure  [Muse 
of  the  Department,  CO]. 

Vallat,  Francois,  substitute  to  the  public  prosecutor  at 
Ville-aux-Fayes,  under  the  Restoration,  at  the  time  of  the 
struggle  of  the  peasantry  against  Montcornet.  The  cousin  of 
Mme.  Sarcus,  wife  of  the  "  rich  "  Sarcus;  he  awaited  for  ad- 
vancement by  Gaubertin,  the  mayor,  whose  influence  extended 
throughout  the  arrondissement  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Vallet,  a  dry  goods  dealer  at  Soulanges  under  the  Restora- 
tion, at  the  time  of  Montcornet's  struggle  against  the  peasantry; 
the  Vallet  store  was  a  part  of  the  building  of  the  Cafe  de  la 
Paix,  kept  by  Socquard  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Val  Noble,  Madame  du.  See  Gaillard,  Madame  Theo- 
fdore. 

Valois,  Chevalier  de,  born  about  1758;  died,  like  his 
friend  and  compatriot  the  Marquis  d'Esgrignon,  with  the 
legitimate  monarchy,  August,  1830.  The  youth  of  this  poor 
gentleman  was  passed  at  Paris,  where  he  was  surprised  by  the 
Revolution  ;  he  was  afterward  a  Chouan,  and,  in  1779,  took  up 
arms  in  the  Whites  of  the  West  against  the  Republic ;  he  was 
one  of  the  Royalist  committee  at  Alen^on.  At  the  time  of 
the  Restoration  he  was  located  in  that  town,  where  he  lived 
very  modestly,  but  was  accepted  by  the  high  aristocracy  as  one 
of  themselves  and  as  a  true  Valois.  The  chevalier  took  snuff 
out  of  an  old  golden  box  ornamented  on  the  lid  with  a  portrait 
of  Princesse  Goritza,  a  Hungarian  celebrated  for  her  beauty 
under  Louis  XV.;  he  never  spoke  of  that  woman  without 
emotion,  for  whose  name  he  had  fought  with  Lauzun.  Chev- 
alier de  Valois  sought  in  vain  to  marry  the  richest  heiress  in 
Alen^on,  Rose-Victoire  Cormon,  an  old  maid  who  had  the 
misfortune  of  becoming  the  "  platonic  "  wife  of  M.  du  Bous- 
quier,  the  former  contractor.  He  resided  at  Alen^on  at  Mme. 
Lardot's,  the  laundress ;  the  chevalier  had  one  of  her  work- 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  545 

girls  as  his  mistress — her  name  was  Cesarine;  she  was  the 
mother  of  a  child  which  was  generally  attributed  to  him. 
Cesarine  was  indeed  his  universal  legatee.  The  chevalier  also 
took  private  liberties  with  another  of  Mme.  Lardot's  work- 
girls,  Suzanne,  a  very  handsome  Norman,  who  afterward  went 
to  Paris,  where  she  became  a  famous  courtesan  under  the 
name  of  Val-Noble,  and  was  later  married  by  Theodore  Gail- 
lard.  Although  M.  de  Valois  loved  this  girl  very  much,  he 
would  not  allow  himself  to  be  exploited  by  her.  He  was  in 
correspondence  with  de  Lenoncourt,  de  Navarreins,  de  Ver- 
neuil,  de  Fontaine,  de  la  Billardiere,  de  Maufrigneuse,  and  de 
Chaulieu.  Valois  lived  by  play,  but  feigned  to  receive  his 
income  from  Maitre  Bordin  in  the  name  of  a  certain  M.  de 
Pombreton  [The  Chouans,  J5 — The  Jealousies  of  a  Country 
Town,  AA\. 

Vandenesse,  Marquis  de,  a  gentleman  of  Tours ;  he  had 
four  children  by  his  wife :  Charles,  who  married  Emilie  de 
Fontaine,  Kergarouet's  widow;  Felix,  who  married  Marie- 
Angelique  de  Granville;  and  two  daughters,  the  eldest  of 
whom  married  her  cousin,  the  Marquis  de  Listomere  [The 
Lily  of  the  Valley,  X]. 

Vandenesse,  Marquise  de,  nee  Listomere,  wife  of  the 
foregoing;  a  tall,  lean,  slender  person,  egotistical  and  *'as 
impertinent  as  all  the  Listomeres  were,  amongst  whom  their 
impertinence  was  reckoned  in  their  dowries."  The  mother  of 
four  children,  she  brought  them  up  without  tenderness  and 
kept  them  at  a  distance,  especially  her  son  Fdix ;  she  was  a 
trace  kinder  perhaps  to  her  eldest  son  Charles  [The  Lily  of 
the  Valley,  i]. 

Vandenesse,  Marquis  Charles  de,  the  eldest  son  of 
the  foregoing,  born  in  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century;  he  was  a  brilliant  diplomat  under  the  Bourbons; 
during  that  period  he  was  Julie  d'Aiglemont's  lover;  there 
were  two  natural  children  by  their  illicit  relations ;  he  pleaded 
in  a  matter  of  interest  against  his  younger  brother,  Comte 
35 


546  COMPENDIUM 

F6lix,  with  Desroches  as  his  barrister.  He  married  Rer- 
garouet's  rich  widow,  nee  Emilie  de  Fontaine  [A  Woman  of 
Thirty,  8—^  Start  in  Life,  8— A  Daughter  of  Eve,  F]. 

Vandenesse,  Marquise  Charles  de,  nte  Emilie  de 
Fontaine  about  1802,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Comte  de 
Fontaine  j  jolly  and  full  of  fun,  she  showed  it  while  quite 
young  at  the  famous  ball  given  by  Cesar  Birotteau,  whither 
she  accompanied  her  parents;  haughty  impertinence  was  a 
distinctive  trait  in  her  character  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O].  She 
refused  Paul  de  Manerville  and  a  number  of  other  persons  who 
would  have  married  her,  and  was  first  wedded  to  her  old 
maternal  great-uncle.  Admiral  Comte  de  Kergarouet.  This 
marriage,  which  she  afterward  regretted,  was  decided  at  a 
card  party  with  the  bishop  of  Persepolis,  following  what  she 
had  learned  in  reference  to  M.  Longueville,  who  was  at  first 
the  object  of  her  choice,  but  who  turned  out  to  be  a  plain  mer- 
chant's clerk  [The  Sceaux  Ball,  tf].  Mme.  de  Kergarouet 
rejected  the  addresses  of  Savinien  de  Portenduere,  her  nephew 
by  marriage,  and  who  paid  his  court  to  her  [Ursule  Mi- 
rouet,  _ff].  Become  a  widow,  she  married  the  Marquis 
de  Vandenesse.  Shortly  after  she  tried  to  cause  the  fall  of 
her  sister-in-law,  Comtesse  Felix  de  Vandenesse,  who  was  at 
that  time  smitten  by  Raoul  Nathan  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\ 

Vandenesse,  Comte  Felix  de,  son,  brother,  and  brother- 
in-law  of  the  foregoing  ones ;  born  in  the  latter  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  he  bore  the  title  of  vicomte  after  his 
father's  death ;  he  suffered  greatly  both  in  childhood  and 
adolescence,  in  the  midst  of  his  family,  and  also  when  he 
was  a  boarding-pupil  at  Tours  in  the  Oratorian  school  at 
Pontlevoy.  In  Lepitre's  Parisian  institution,  and  during  his 
days  on  the  He  Saint-Louis,  near  a  relative  of  his  named 
Listomere,  he  was  very  unhappy.  Felix  de  Vandenesse  did 
not  finally  find  peace  until  he  arrived  at  Frapesle,  a  neighbor- 
ing castle  to  Clochegourde.  It  was  here  that  he  entered  upon 
his  platonic  liaison  with  Mme.  de  Mortsauf,  who  took  a  lead- 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  547 

ing  place  in  his  life.  On  the  other  side  he  was  also  Lady 
Arabelle  Dudley's  lover,  who  gave  him  the  nickname  of 
Amedee — pronounced  "  my  dee."  Mme.  de  Mortsauf  having 
died,  he  was  scorned  and  treated  with  bitter  hostility  by  little 
Madeleine,  who  afterward  became  Mme.  de  Lenoncourt-Givry- 
Chaulieu.  Political  events  worked  for  him  during  this  time  : 
during  the  Hundred  Days  Louis  XVIIL  gave  him  charge  of 
a  mission  in  Vendee.  The  King  became  attached  to  him 
and  made  him  his  private  secretary ;  he  was  also  appointed  a 
master  of  requests  to  the  Council  of  State.  Vandenesse 
frequented  the  Lenoncourts ;  was  excited  like  the  rest  when 
Lucien  de  Rubempr^  made  his  fresh  appearance  in  Paris ;  he 
felt  for  him  an  admiration  mingled  with  envy ;  he  supported 
and  succored  Cesar  Birotteau  by  orders  of  the  King ;  he  knew 
Prince  Talleyrand  and  asked  information  of  him  as  to  Ma- 
cumer,  for  Louise  de  Chaulieu  [The  Lily  of  the  Valley,  Jj — 
A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iHZ— Cesar  Birotteau,  O 
— Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  On  the  death  of  his  father, 
Felix  de  Vandenesse  took  the  title  of  count,  and  in  reference 
to  the  sale  of  an  estate  plead  against  his  brother,  the  marquis, 
no  doubt  successfully;  he  was  badly  served  by  a  clerk  in 
Maitre  Desroches'  employ — Oscar  Husson  [A  Start  in  Life,  8]. 
Comte  Felix  de  Vandenesse  had  very  intimate  relations  with 
Natalie  de  Manerville,  which  were  broken  off  by  the  countess 
after  she  had  heard  minutely  from  him  of  the  passion  he  had  pre- 
viously had  for  the  Comtesse  de  Mortsauf  [A  Marriage  Settle- 
ment, a€C\.  The  year  following  he  married  Angelique-Marie 
de  Granville,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  famous  judge  of  that 
name,  and  installed  her  on  the  Rue  du  Rocher,*  where  he  had 
a  mansion  which  was  most  exquisitely  decorated.  At  first  he 
did  not  make  love  to  his  wife,  who  lacked  the  experience 
necessary  to  excite  a  roue  who  knew  the  style  of  kept  women. 
Nevertheless  it  is  produced  everywhere.     One  evening,  un- 

*  This  Parisian  thoroughfare  has  been  much  modified  for  at  least  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 


548  COMPENDIUM 

accompanied  by  her,  he  attended  a  soiree  at  Mme.  d'Espard's, 
where  he  is  found  with  his  eldest  brother,  when  the  slander 
spoken  against  Diane  de  Cadignan  aroused  d'Arthez,  who  was 
smitten  by  her.  Felix  de  Vandenesse  took  his  wife  to  a  rout 
at  Mile,  des  Touches,  where  de  Marsay  told  the  story  of  his 
first  love.  He  and  his  household  still  frequented  the  Cadig- 
nan and  Montcornet  hotels,  under  Louis-Philippe ;  Mme.  de 
Vandenesse  was  imprudently  smitten  by  Raoul  Nathan ;  a 
cunning  ruse  of  the  count's  saved  her  from  danger  [The 
Secrets  of  the  Princess  of  Cadignan,  ^ — Another  Study  of 
Woman,  I — A  Historical  Mystery,  Jf^— A  Daughter  of 
Eve,    F]. 

Vandenesse,  Comtesse  Felix  de,  nee  Angelique-Marie 
DE  Granville,  1808,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  a  brunette  like 
her  father,  the  celebrated  judge;  she  had  his  assistance  in  sup- 
porting the  rigorous  austerities  thrust  upon  her  by  her  devout 
mother,  in  their  hotel  in  the  Marais,  where  during  her  ado- 
lescence she  also  had  the  tender  affection  of  her  younger  sister, 
Marie-Eugenie  (afterward  Mme.  du  Tillet) ;  their  lessons  in 
harmony,  given  them  by  Wilhelm  Schmucke,  afforded  them 
some  relaxation.  Marie,  in  1828,  was  richly  dowered  at  the 
expense  of  Marie-Eugenie.  Although  a  mother — she  had  at 
least  one  child— she  became  suddenly  romantic ;  she  fell  into 
a  plot,  the  victim  of  a  conspiracy  of  society  engineered  by 
Lady  Dudley,  and  Mesdames  Charles  de  Vandenesse  and  de 
Manerville.  Marie,  urged  by  her  foolish  passion  for  the 
writer,  Raoul  Nathan,  and  wishing  to  save  him  financially, 
appealed  to  the  good  offices  of  Mme.  de  Nucingen  and  to 
Schmucke's  devotion.  Her  husband  gave  proof  to  her  of  the 
dishonoring  relations  of  Raoul  and  his  bohemian  life,  and 
this  prevented  Mme.  Felix  de  Vandenesse's  fall  [A  Second 
Home,  z — A  Daughter  of  Eve,  Y\  This  adventure,  with 
the  danger  she  had  run  and  her  rupture  with  the  poet,  was 
afterward  narrated  by  M.  de  Clagny  to  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye, 
Lousteau's  mistress  [Muse  of  the  Department,  CC\ 


COMJkDIE  HUMAINE.  549 

Vandenesse,  Alfred  de,  son  of  Marquis  Charles  de 
Vandenesse ;  he  compromised  himself,  in  the  faubourg  Saint- 
Germain,  in  the  middle  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  with  Com- 
tesse  de  Saint-Hereen,  in  spite  of  Mme.  d'Aiglemont,  her 
mother,  who  had  formerly  been  his  father's  mistress  [A  Woman 
of  Thirty,  H\ 

Vandieres,  General,  Comte  de,  was  an  old  man,  very 
weak,  and  in  his  second  childhood,  when,  November  29,  181 2, 
he  took  part,  with  his  wife  and  a  large  body  of  soldiers,  in  an 
attempt  to  cross  the  Beresina  on  a  raft ;  the  shock  caused  by 
striking  the  other  bank  threw  the  count  into  the  river;  a  piece 
of  ice  struck  him  on  the  head  and  he  sank  like  a  bullet  [Fare- 
well, e\. 

Vandieres,  Comtesse  Stephanie  de,  wife  of  the  pre- 
ceding, niece  of  the  alienist  doctor,  Fanjat,  the  mistress  of 
Major  Philippe  de  Sucy,  afterward  a  general.  She  was  quite 
young  in  181 2,  and,  during  the  Russian  campaign,  shared  her 
husband's  danger ;  she  was  able  to  pass  the  Beresina,  thanks 
to  her  lover,  but  he  was  separated  from  her ;  for  a  long  time 
she  remained  in  northeastern  Europe;  she  became  insane; 
she  was  always  pronouncing  the  significant  word  ''farewell"; 
she  was  found  at  Strasbourg  by  a  grenadier  of  the  Guards, 
Fleuriot.  She  was  taken  by  Fanjat  to  the  home  of  the  Bons- 
Hommes,  near  Ile-Adam,  where  she  had  as  companion  an 
idiot,  named  Genevieve;  Stephanie  met  Philippe  de  Sucy,  but 
without  recognizing  him,  in  September,  1819;  she  died  near 
Saint-Germain  en  Laye,  January,  1820,  after  a  repetition  of 
the  scene,  organized  by  her  lover,  of  the  crossing  of  the  Bere- 
sina; she  recovered  her  reason,  but  it  killed  her  [Farewell,  e\. 

Vaniere,  Raphael  de  Valentin's  gardener,  who  drew  out 
of  the  well,  into  which  his  master  had  thrown  it,  the  strange 
Wild  Ass'  Skin,  which  had  been  pressed  and  chemically 
treated  in  order  to  distend  it,  but  which  disconcerted  the 
efforts  of  the  most  illustrious  scientists  in  their  efforts  to 
stretch  it  [The  Wild  Ass'  Skin,  A\. 


^    Mv^-^^L.-/^       /v^U^^C^l^^.^.^ 


560  COMPENDIUM 

Vanneaulx,  M.  and  Madame  des,  small  fundholders  of 
Limoges ;  they  lived,  with  their  two  children,  on  the  Rue  des 
Cloches,  about  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Charles  X. ;  they  in- 
herited about  one  hundred  thousand  francs  from  Pingret,  of 
whom  Mme.  des  Vanneaulx  was  the  only  niece,  but  only  after 
J.  F.  Tascheron  had  assassinated  her  uncle ;  he  made  this 
restitution  at  the  instance  of  Cure  Bonnet,  and  it  formed  a 
part  of  the  money  stolen  on  the  faubourg  Saint-Etienne.  M. 
and  Mme.  des  Vanneaulx,  who  had  accused  the  murderer  of 
"indelicacy,"  completely  altered  their  opinion  when  they 
were  placed  in  possession  of  the  recovered  money  [The  Coun- 
try Parson,  J^]. 

Vanni,  Elisa,  a  Corsican  woman,  who,  according  to  a 
certain  Giacomo,  saved  Luigi  Porta,  a  child,  from  Bartholomeo 
di  Piombo's  terrible  vendetta  [The  Vendetta,  %\. 

Vannier,  a  conscript  patriot  of  Fougeres,  Brittany,  re- 
ceived by  Gudin  in  the  autumn  of  1799,  when  the  orders 
were  given  to  the  National  Guard  of  that  town  to  search  for 
men  to  reinforce  the  7 2d  demi-brigade  [The  Chouans,  'K\. 

Varese,  Emilio  Memmi,  Prince  de,  born  in  1797 ;  a  very 
noble  Venetian  ;  the  descendant  of  the  ancient  Roman  family 
of  the  Memmius ;  he  took  the  name  of  Prince  de  Varese  when 
Facino  Cane,  his  relative,  died.  Memmi  lived  poor  and  ob- 
scure in  Venice,  which  at  that  time  belonged  to  Austria.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  Restoration  he  was  on  terms  of  the 
greatest  friendship  with  Marco  Vendramini,  his  compatriot. 
His  losses  did  not  permit  him  to  keep  any  more  servants  than 
one  old  gondolier,  Carmagnola.  He  had  a  passion  for  Mas- 
similla  Doni,  wife  of  Due  Cataneo,  which  for  a  long  time 
remained  platonic  in  spite  of  his  vivacity ;  he  was  once  un- 
faithful to  her,  not  being  able  to  resist  the  unexpected  seduc- 
tions of  Clarina  Tinti,  who  was  located  in  his,  Memmi's, 
palace;  she  was  prima  donna  assoluta  at  the  Fenise;  at 
length  he  vanquished  his  timidity,  and,  breaking  with  his 
<* ideal,"  made  Massimilla  Cataneo  a  mother;   he  married 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  651 

her  when  she  became  a  widow,  some  months  after.  During 
Louis-Philippe's  reign  Varese  lived  in  Paris ;  he  became 
wealthy  by  his  marriage,  and  one  evening,  in  the  Champs- 
Elysees,  relieved  two  indigent  artists,  the  Gambaras,  who 
had  become  so  reduced  as  to  have  to  sing  in  public  for 
their  living;  he  asked  them  to  tell  him  their  unfortunate 
history,  which  Marianna  narrated  without  bitterness  [Massi- 
milla  Doni,  jlj^— Gambara,  hh\ 

Varese,  Princesse  de,  nee  Massimilla  Doni,  about  1800, 
wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  was  of  a  noble,  historical,  and 
wealthy  Florentine  family;  she  was  first  married  when  very 
young  to  Due  Cataneo,  a  repulsive  person  who  lived  in 
Venice  at  the  time  of  Louis  XVIII.  She  was  a  constant  at- 
tendant at  and  took  great  pleasure  in  the  opera  at  the  Fenise 
during  the  winter  when  **  Moses"  and  "  Semiramide  "  were 
presented  by  a  troupe  in  which  were  Clarina  Tinti,  Genovese, 
and  Carthagenova.  Massimilla  recognized  a  violent  love  in 
Emilio  Memmi  for  her,  although  it  was  once  only  platonic ; 
she  loved  him  equally  well  in  return ;  after  the  death  of 
Cataneo  she  married  him,  and  afterward  went  to  Paris,  under 
Louis-Philippe ;  she  there  met  the  Gambaras,  while  with  her 
husband,  and  relieved  their  distress  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff — 
Gambara,  hh\ 

Varlet,  a  physician  at  Arcis  in  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  at  the  time  when  there  were  some  local 
political  quarrels  between  the  Gondrevilles,  Cinq-Cygnes, 
Hauteserres,  and  Michu ;  he  had  one  daughter,  who  became 
Mme.  Grevin  on  her  marriage  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff — The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  X)X)]. 

Varlet,  son  of  the  foregoing,  brother-in-law  of  M.  Grevin, 
and  afterward,  like  his  father,  a  doctor  at  Arcis  [The  Deputy 
for  Arcis,  T>jy\. 

Vassal,  in  1822,  Maitre  Desroches'  third  clerk,  at  Paris; 
where  also  were  engaged  Marest,  Godeschal,  and  Husson 
[A  Start  in  Life,  s\. 


552  COMPENDIUM 

Vatel,  once  the  child  of  the  regiment,  then  corporal  of  a 
company  of  infantry;  during  the  Restoration  he  became  a 
keeper  under  Michaud,  one  of  the  three  who  guarded  Mont- 
cornet's  estate  of  the  Aigues ;  he  pursued  Mother  Tonsard  as 
an  evildoer.  He  was  a  splendid  servant,  as  gay  as  a  lark, 
without  religious  principles,  and  brave  to  temerity  [The 
Peasantry,  1?]. 

Vatinelle,  Madame,  a  woman  of  Mantes,  pretty  and  light 
enough ;  at  one  time  sought  by  Fraisier  the  barrister  and  also 
by  the  public  prosecutor  Olivier  Vinet;  she  '*  had  not  treated 
the  barrister  unkindly."  The  prosecutor  soon  found  a  means 
of  forcing  out  Fraisier,  who  had  been  retained  by  both  parties 
to  a  suit,  and  compelled  him  to  sell  his  practice  and  quit  the 
town  [Cousin  Pons,  o6\. 

Vauchelles,  De,  about  1835,  ^^P^  "P  friendly  relations 
with  his  compatriot,  Amedee  de  Soulas,  and  his  old  college 
chum,  Chavoncourt  junior.  Vauchelles  was  also  nobly  born, 
but  had  a  much  less  fortune  than  Soulas.  He  sought  the 
hand  of  Mile.  Victoire,  the  eldest  of  the  Chavoncourt  sisters, 
to  whom  an  aunt,  his  godmother,  gave  assurance  of  a 
domain  bringing  in  a  rental  of  seven  thousand  francs,  and 
one  hundred  thousand  francs  in  money,  on  the  signing  of  the 
contract.  To  Rosalie  de  Watteville's  satisfaction  Vauchelles 
fought  the  legislative  candidature  of  Albert  Savarus  along  with 
Chavoncourt  senior  [Albert  Savaron, /""]. 

Vaudoyer,  a  peasant  at  Ronquerolles,  who  became  a 
country  policeman  at  Blangy;  but  deprived  of  his  position, 
1 82 1,  to  the  benefit  of  Groison,  by  Montcornet,  then  mayor  of 
the  commune,  he  sustained  Rigou  and  Gaubertin  against  the 
new  owner  of  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Vaudremont,  Comtesse  de,  born  in  1787;  wealthy  and 
already  a  widow  at  twenty-two  years  of  age;  in  1809  she 
passed  for  being  the  most  beautiful  Parisian  of  the  time  and 
was   "society's   queen."      In   November   of  that   year  she 


COMA  DIE  HUM  A  IN E.  553 

assisted  at  a  grand  ball  given  by  Malin  de  Gondreville*  at 
which  the  Emperor  was  vainly  expected.  She  was  the  mistress 
of  Comte  de  Soulanges  and  Martial  de  la  Roche-Hugon  ;  from 
the  former  Mme.  de  Vaudremont  had  received  a  ring  taken 
from  the  countess'  jewel  casket ;  she  in  turn  made  a  present 
of  it  to  Martial,  who  wore  it  on  his  finger  at  the  Gondreville 
ball,  where  he  gave  it  to  Mme.  de  Soulanges,  without  knowing 
that  he  was  making  restitution.  Mme.  de  Vaudremont's 
death  followed  soon  after  this  incident,  which  brought  about 
the  reconciliation  of  the  Soulanges'  household.  The  countess 
perished  in  the  well-known  fire  which  happened  during  a  fete 
given  by  the  Austrian  ambassador  on  the  occasion  of  the  Em- 
peror's marriage  to  Marie-Louise.  The  hotel  of  the  embassy 
occupied  part  of  the  Rue  de  la  Chausee  d'Antin — then  the 
Rue  du  Mont-Blanc — between  Rues  de  la  Victoire  and  Saint- 
Lazare  [Peace  in  the  House,  j\ 

Vaumerland,  Baronne  de,  a  friend  of  Mme.  de  I'Amber- 
mesnil ;  she  boarded  in  the  Marais,  but  when  her  term  expired 
'*  she  would  become  one  of  Mme.  Vauquer's  boarders  in  the 
establishment  on  the  Rue  Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve  "  ;  at  least 
so  Mme.  de  I'Ambermesnil  affirmed  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Vauquelin,  Nicolas- Louis,  a  celebrated  chemist  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Institute;  born  at  Saint-Andre  d'Hebertot,  in 
1763;  died  in  1829.  The  son  of  a  peasant;  distinguished 
by  Pourcroy ;  successively  a  pharmacist  at  Paris,  inspector  of 
mines,  professor  at  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  the  Medical 
School,  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  and  the  College  de  France. 
He  gave  Cesar  Birotteau  a  recipe  for  a  cosmetic  for  the  hands, 
which  the  perfumer  called  the  "Double  Sultana  Paste,"  and 
was  consulted  by  him  on  the  subject  of  the  "  Cephalic  Oil," 
which  was  likely  to  cause  the  hair  to  grow.  Nicolas  Vau- 
quelin was  invited  to  the  famous  ball  given  by  the  perfumer, 
December  17,  18 18.     Cesar  Birotteau  presented  to  the  scien- 

*  As  an  exception,  Malin  de  Gondreville  has  his  biography  given  as 
Gondreville ;  this  politician  is  mostly  known  under  his  second  name. 


554  COMPENDIUM 

tist  a  proof  engraving  by  Muller,  after  the  Virgin  of  Dresden, 
printed  on  China  paper,  and  proof  before  letters,  which  cost 
him  fifteen  hundred  francs  and  had  been  found  in  Germany- 
after  two  years  of  search,  in  recognition  of  his  good  advice 
[Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Vauquer,  Madame,  nee  Conflans  about  1767;  a  widow 
who,  so  she  pretended,  had  fallen  from  a  brilliant  position 
through  misfortunes ;  for  a  long  time  she  kept  a  middle-class 
boarding-house,  near  the  Rue  de  I'Arbalete,  Rue  Neuve-Sainte- 
Genevidve,*  Paris.  In  1819-20  Mme.  Vauquer,  who  was  a 
little,  cold,  fat  woman,  well  enough  preserved,  although  con- 
siderably faded,  had  Horace  Bianchon  as  a  constant  fre- 
quenter of  her  table  d'hote,  and  she  found  lodgings  on  the  first 
floor  of  her  house  for  Mme.  Couture  and  Mile.  Taillefer ;  on 
the  second  there  were  Poiret  senior  and  Jacques  Collin  ;  on 
the  third,  Christine-Michelle  Michonneau  (the  future  Mme. 
Poiret),  Joachim  Goriot  (the  latter  of  whom  at  one  time  she 
looked  upon  as  a  possible  husband  for  herself),  and  Eugene 
de  Rastignac.  She  lost  her  different  guests  at  the  time  of 
Jacques  Collin's  arrest  [Father  Goriot,  6r]. 

Vauremont,  Princesse  de,  one  of  the  grandest  figures 
of  the  eighteenth  century ;  the  grandmother  of  Mme.  Marie 
Gaston,  who  worshiped  her;  died  in  Paris,  1817,  the  same 
year  as  Mme.  de  Stael,  in  a  suite  of  rooms  of  a  hotel  belong- 
ing to  the  Chaulieus,  situated  near  the  Boulevard  des  Invalides. 
Mme.  de  Vauremont  occupied  the  same  apartments  that  were 
afterward  used  by  Louise  de  Chaulieu  (Mme.  Marie  Gaston). 
Talleyrand,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  princess,  was  her  testa- 
mentary executor  [Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\ 

Vauthier,  called  Vieux-Chene,  an  old  servant  of  the 
famous  Longuy ;  groom  at  the  Crown  of  France,  Mortagne, 
1809 ;  he  was  implicated  in  the  Chauffeur  affair,  and  was 
sentenced  to  twenty  years'  hard  labor,  but  the  Emperor  after- 
ward pardoned  him ;  he  perished  in  Paris,  killed  by  an 
*  Now  the  Rue  Tournefort. 


COM^DIE   HUMAINE.  555 

obscure  and  devoted  companion  of  Chevalier  du  Vissard 
[The  Seamy  Side  of   History,  T\ 

Vauthier,  Madame,  was,  1809,  the  daughter  of  the  Prince 
de  Wissembourg's  cook,  on  the  Rue  Louis-le-Grand ;  then 
cook  to  Barbet  the  bookseller,  the  owner  of  a  furnished  apart- 
ment house.  Boulevard  Montparnesse ;  later,  about  1833,  she 
managed  another  similar  place  for  him,  of  which  she  was  also 
the  janitress.  Mme.  Vauthier  at  that  time  employed  Nepo- 
mucene  and  Felicite  to  work  in  the  house;  as  tenants  she 
had  Bourlac,  Vanda  and  Auguste  Mergi,  and  Godefroid 
[The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

Vautrin,*  the  most  famous  of  the  names  assumed  by 
Jacques  Collin. 

Vauvinet,  born  about  1817,  a  Parisian  usurer;  had  all 
the  elegant  and  modern  surroundings,  an  absolutely  different 
type  to  the  Chaboisseau-Gobseck :  he  made  the  Boulevard  des 
Italiens  the  centre  of  his  operations ;  was  a  creditor  of  Baron 
Hulot's,  to  the  amount,  at  one  time,  of  seventy  thousand 
francs;  and  then  at  another  time  of  forty  thousand  francs, 
in  reality  money  loaned  by  Nucingen  [Cousin  Betty,  w\.  In 
1845  Leon  de  Lora  and  J.  J.  Bixiou  pointed  him  out  to  S.  P. 
Gazonal  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  u\ 

Vavasseur,  a  clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  Clergeot's 
division,  under  the  Empire.  He  had  as  a  successor  in  his 
place  E.  L.  L.  E.  Cochin  [Les  Employes,  cc\ 

Vedie,  La,  born  in  1756;  an  ugly  old  maid,  whose  face 
was  ravaged  by  the  smallpox;  a  distinguished  cordon  bleu;  she 
came  away  from  the  house  of  a  cure  who  died  without  leaving 
her  anything,  and  entered  the  J.  J.  Rouget  household  as  cook, 
by  the  intervention    of  Flore  Brazier   and    Maxence   Gilet. 

*  On  March  14,  1840,  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  theatre  presented  a  drama 
in  which  the  famous  convict  was  one  of  the  principal  heroes.  Frederick 
Lemaitre  played  the  leading  ro'e ;  the  piece  had  but  that  one  representa- 
tion ;  nevertheless  the  Ambigu-Comique  repeated  it  in  April,  i868,  with 
the  same  Frederick  Lemaitre. 


556  COMPENDIUM 

An  income  of  three  hundred  livres  would  have  recompensed 
her,  after  ten  years  of  good,  discreet,  and  loyal  service  [A 
Bachelor's  Establishment,  «7]. 

Vendramini,  Marco,  whose  name  was  also  pronounced 
Vendramin;*  probably  a  descendant  of  the  last  doge  of 
Venice;  brother  of  Bianca  Sagredo,  nee  Vendramini;  a  Vene- 
tian patriot ;  the  intimate  friend  of  Prince  Memmi-Cane  de 
Var^se.  In  the  drunkenness  arising  from  opium,  his  great 
reliance,  about  1820,  Marco  Vendramini  again  found  freedom 
and  power ;  his  cherished  city  was  then  in  the  power  of  the 
Austrians.  Marco  talked  to  Memmi  of  Venice,  of  his  dreams, 
of  the  famous  Florian  of  the  Procuraties,  sometimes  in  mod- 
ern Greek,  at  another  in  their  native  tongue;  at  one  time 
as  they  promenaded  together,  at  another  before  la  Vulpato 
and  the  Castaneos,  during  the  performance  of  '*S6miramide," 
of  **I1  Barbiere,"  and  "  Moses,"  interpreted  by  la  Tinti  and 
Genovese.  A  victim  to  excess  of  opium,  Vendramini  died, 
while  still  young,  under  Louis  XVIII. ;  he  was  mourned  by  his 
friends  [Facino  Cane,  /? — Massimilla  Doni,  ff\ 

Vergniaud,  Louis,  who  made  with  Hyacinthe-Chabert 
and  Luigi  Porta  the  campaign  of  Egypt;  we  find  him  a 
quartermaster  in  the  hussars  when  he  left  the  service.  In 
Paris  he  was  successively,  under  the  Restoration,  a  dairyman, 
Rue  du  Petit-Banquier;  a  livery  man,  and  a  hack  driver.  As 
a  dairyman,  Vergniaud  was  married  and  the  father  of  three 
sons;  he  was  Grados'  debtor,  but  Chabert's  benevolence 
ended  in  his  being  discomfited ;  he  also  assisted  Luigi  Porta 
when  he  was  unfortunate,  and  was  his  witness  when  the  Corsi- 
can  married  Mile,  di  Piombo.  Louis  became  mixed  up  in  the 
conspiracies  against  Louis  XVIII.,  and  was  imprisoned  for 
political  off'enses  [Colonel  Chabert,  i — The  Vendetta,  i]. 

*  The  Vendramin  palace  is  still  called  by  that  name ;  the  Duchesse  de 
Berry  and  Comte  de  Chambord  own  it ;  it  was  there  that  Wagner,  the  mu- 
sician, died.  The  Vendramin  palace  is  laved  by  the  Grand-Canal,  and  is 
a  near  neighbor  of  the  Justiniani  palace — now  the  Hdtel  de  1' Europe. 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE.  557 

Vermanton,  a  cynical  philosopher,  a  frequenter  of  Mme. 
Schontz's  salon,  1835  ^^  1840,  at  the  time  when  she  was  the 
head  of  Arthur  de  Rochefide's  household  [Beatrix,  J*]. 

Vermichel,  habitually  nicknamed  Vert,  Michel-Jean- 
Jerome. 

Vermut,  a  pharmacist  at  Soulanges,  under  the  Restoration ; 
brother-in-law  to  Sarcus,  justice  of  the  peace,  who  had  married 
his  eldest  sister.  A  distinguished  enough  chemist,  Vermut 
was  nevertheless  the  object  of  the  pleasantries  and  scorn  of  the 
Soudry  salon,  particularly  on  Gourdon's  part.  In  spite  of 
being  so  little  esteemed  in  "  the  first  society  of  Soulanges," 
Vermut  showed  some  capacity  when  he  made  Mme.  Pigeron 
uneasy  by  proving  that  poison  existed  in  the  corpse  of  the 
defunct  Pigeron  [The  Peasantry,  jR]. 

Vermut,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  the  brood- 
mare of  Mme.  Soudry's  salon,  who  found  it  bad  form  and 
blamed  her  for  coquetting  with  Gourdon,  the  author  of  **la 
Bilboqueide"  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Vernal,  Abbe,  with  Chatillon,  Suzannet,  and  Comte  de 
Fontaine,  one  of  the  four  chiefs  of  the  Vendee,  1799,  at  the 
time  when  Montauran  fought  Hulot  [The  Chouans,  JB]. 

Vernet,  Joseph,  born  in  1714;  died  1789;  a  celebrated 
French  painter;  M.  Guillaume,  Sommervieux's  father-in-law, 
of  the  *' Cat  and  Racket,"  supplied  him  with  cloth  [At  the 
Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket,  t\ 

Verneuil,  Marquis  de,  belonged  to  a  historical  family, 
and  probably  one  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Verneuils  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.  In  1591  he  frequented 
the  Norman  gentleman,  Comte  d'Herouville,  an  ancestor  of 
the  protector  of  Josepha  Mirah,  a  star  at  the  Academy  about 
1838.  The  friendship  between  the  two  houses  lasted  through 
the  centuries  [The  Hated  Son,  ;§?]. 

Verneuil,  Victor-Amedee,  Due  de,  who  must  have  de- 
scended from  the  foregoing,  and  who  died  before  the  Revo- 
lution ;  he  had,  outside  his  marriage  with  Mile.  Blanche  de 


558  COMPENDIUM 

Casteran,  a  daughter,  Marie-Nathalie  (afterward  Mme.  Al- 
phonse  de  Montauran)  ;  he  acknowledged  her  during  the  last 
hours  of  his  life,  and,  to  the  advantage  of  that  natural  child, 
nearly  disinherited  his  legitimate  son  [The  Chouans,  J5]. 

Verneuil,  Mademoiselle  de;  probably  a  relative  of  the 
foregoing  ones ;  sister  of  the  Prince  de  Loudon,  the  Vendean 
cavalry  general ;  she  went  to  Mans  to  save  him,  but  perished 
on  the  scaffold,  after  the  Savenay  affair,  in  1793  [The  Chou- 
ans, JB>\ 

Verneuil,  Due  de,  son  of  Due  Victor-Amedee  de  Verneuil 
and  brother  of  Mme.  Alphonse  de  Montauran,  with  whom  he 
had  a  trial  to  recover  the  paternal  heritage ;  during  the  Resto- 
ration he  lived  in  the  town  of  Alen^on,  and  there  frequented 
the  d'Esgrignons'  house.  Daring  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIIL 
he  made  himself  the  protector  and  introducer  of  Victurnien 
d'Esgrignon  [The  Chouans,  ^ — The  Collection  of  Antiqui- 
ties, acC\. 

Verneuil,  Due  de,  of  the  family  of  the  preceding  ones ; 
he  assisted  at  the  festival  given  by  Josepha  Mirah,  the  Due 
d'Herouville's  mistress,  when  she  inaugurated  her  sumptuous 
apartments  on  the  Rue  de  la  Ville-d'Eveque,  under  Louis- 
Philippe  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Verneuil,  Due  de,  an  affable  great  lord,  the  son-in-law  of 
a  wealthy  first  president  who  died  in  1800 ;  he  was  the  father 
of  four  children,  among  whom  were  Prince  Gaspard  de 
Loudon  and  Mile.  Laure ;  he  owned  the  historic  castle  of 
Rosembray,  in  the  Brotonne  forest,  near  1' Havre;  there 
he  received  one  day  in  the  month  of  October,  1829,  the 
Mignons  de  la  Bastie,  accompanied  by  the  Herouvilles,  de 
Canalis,  and  Ernest  de  la  Briere,  each  of  whom  at  that  time 
desired  to  marry  Modeste  Mignon,  who  later  became  Mme. 
de  la  Briere  de  la  Bastie  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK.\ 

Verneuil,  Duchesse  Hortense  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing ; 
a  haughty  and  religious  person ;  the  daughter  of  an  opulent 
first  president;  died  in   1800.     She  was  only  spared  two  of 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  559 

her  four  children — her  daughter  Laure  and  Prince  Gaspard 
de  Loudon  ;  she  frequently  called  upon  the  Herouvilles,  and 
received  them  at  Rosembray  during  a  day  in  the  month  of 
October,  1829,  together  with  the  Mignons  de  la  Bastie,  and 
also  Melchior  de  Canalis  and  Ernest  de  la  Briere  [Modeste 
Mignon,  K.\ 

Verneuil,  Laure  de,  daughter  of  the  foregoing.  At 
Rosembray,  on  the  day  of  the  festival  in  October,  1829, 
Eleonore  de  Chaulieu  gave  her  advice  how  to  work  em- 
broidery or  tapestry  [Modeste  Mignon,  JK.\ 

Verneuil,  Duchesse  de,  sister  of  Prince  de  Blamont- 
Chauvry ;  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Duchesse  de  Bourbon  ; 
very  tried  by  the  tempests  of  the  Revolution ;  the  aunt  and 
in  some  sort  the  mother  by  adoption  of  Blanche-Henriette  de 
Mortsauf  {nee  Lenoncourt).  She  formed  a  portion  of  a 
society  of  which  Saint-Martin  was  the  soul.  The  Duchesse 
de  Verneuil,  who  owned  the  domain  of  Clochegourde  in 
Touraine,  gave  it  during  her  life  to  Mme.  de  Mortsauf,  re- 
serving only  one  chamber  for  herself.  Mme.  de  Verneuil 
died  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  [The  Lily  of 
the  Valley,  X]. 

Verneuil,*  Marie-Nathalie  de.  See  Montauran,  Mar- 
quise Alphonse  de. 

Vernier,  Baron,  surveyor-general ;  Baron  Hector  Hulot 
d'Ervy's  surety;  he  met  him  at  the  Ambigu  theatre,  1843, 
accompanied  by  a  superb  woman.  He  afterward  received  a 
visit  from  the  Baronne  Adeline  Hulot,  who  came  for  informa- 
tion about  him  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

Vernier,  an  old  dyer  who  lived  on  his  income  at  Vouvray, 
Touraine,  since  about  1821  ;  a  sly  countryman  ;  the  father  of 
a  married  daughter  called  Claire;  he  was  challenged  by  Felix 

*0n  June  23,  1837,  under  the  title  of  "The  Gars,"  the  Ambigu- 
Comique  gave  a  drama  by  Antony  Beraud,  in  five  acts  and  six  tableaux, 
which  reproduced,  with  some  modifications,  the  adventures  of  Marie- 
Nathalie  de  Montauran,  nke  Veraeuil. 


560  COMPENDIUM 

Gaudissart  for  having  played  a  practical  joke  on  the  celebrated 
drummer ;  he  fought  a  duel  with  pistols  with  him  as  a  result 
[Gaudissart  the  Great,  o\ 

Vernier,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  a  plump  little 
body,  of  robust  health ;  the  friend  of  Mme.  Margaritis ;  with 
much  impressment  she  contributed  to  the  practical  joke  de- 
signed by  her  husband  against  Felix  Gaudissart  [73/^.]. 

Vernisset,  Victor  de,  a  poet  of  the  ''angelic  school," 
of  which  the  academician  Canalis  was  the  head ;  a  contem- 
porary of  Beranger,  Delavigne,  Lamartine,  Lousteau,  Nathan, 
Vigny,  Hugo,  Barbier,  Marie-Gaston,  and  Gautier ;  he  mixed 
with  the  best  Parisians ;  he  is  seen  at  the  home  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Consolation,  Rue  Chanoinesse,  and  he  received 
money  from  the  Baronne  de  la  Chanterie,  the  president  of 
that  association ;  he  is  also  found  on  the  Rue  Chauchat,  at 
Heldise  Brisetout's,  when  she  hung  her  pot-hook  up  in  the 
apartments  in  which  she  succeeded  Jos6pha  Mirah;  there 
he  met  J.  J.  Bixiou,  Leon  de  Lora,  Etienne  Lousteau,  and 
Stidmann ;  he  was  foolishly  smitten  by  Mme.  Schontz.  He 
was  invited  to  Celestin  Crevel's  and  Valerie  Marneffe's  wed- 
ding [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T — Beatrix,  J* — Cousin 
Betty,  w\. 

Vernon,  Marechal,  father  of  the  Due  de  Vissembourg 
and  Prince  Chiavari  [Beatrix,  JP]. 

Vernou,  Felicien,  a  Parisian  journalist.  He  used  his 
influence  to  obtain  a  first  appearance  for  Marie  Godeschal, 
called  Mariette,  at  the  Porte  Saint-Martin  theatre.  The 
husband  of  an  ugly,  crabbed,  and  vulgar  woman ;  by  her  he 
had  children  who  were  poor  Venuses.  He  occupied  a  poor 
lodging  on  the  Rue  Mandar,  when  Lucien  de  Rubempre  was 
introduced  to  him.  Vernou  was  a  sharp  critic ;  he  was 
of  the  Opposition.  The  disagreeableness  of  the  interior  of 
his  house  soured  his  nature  and  his  talent.  A  type  whose  end 
is  envy,  he  jealously  pursued  Lucien  de  Rubempre  with  habitual 
hatred    [A   Bachelor's   Establishment,   e/"— A   Distinguished 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE,  561 

Provincial  at  Paris,  ilT— The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y].  In 
1834  Blondet  recommended  him  to  Nathan  as  a  "  Maitre 
Jacques"  that  it  was  possible  for  his  journal  to  utilize  [A 
Daughter  of  Eve,  V\  Felicien  Vernou  was  invited  to 
Celestin  Crevel's  and  Valerie  Marneffe's  wedding  ^Cousin 
Betty,  w\ 

Vernou,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  whose  vulgarity 
was  one  of  the  causes  of  her  husband's  bitterness ;  she  showed 
this  on  the  very  day  that  Lucien  de  Rubempre  called,  on  the 
Rue  Mandar ;  she  named  amongst  her  friends  a  certain  Mme. 
Mahoudeau  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  Jf]. 

Vert,  Michel-Jean-Jerome,  nicknamed  Vermichel;  an 
old  fiddler  in  the  Burgundy  regiment,  under  the  Restoration ; 
beside  being  a  fiddler  he  was  at  the  same  time  the  janitor  at 
the  town  hall,  the  Soulanges  drummer,  jailer  of  the  prison, 
and  lastly  Brunet's  bookkeeper.  The  intimate  friend  of  Four- 
chon,  he  drank  with  him  and  partook  his  hate  against  the 
Montcornets,  who  owned  the  Aigues  [The  Peasantry,  K\. 

Vert,  Madame  Michel,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  like  him 
she  was  called  Vermichel ;  she  was  a  virago  in  mustaches,  a 
metre  in  height,  and  weighed  two  hundred  and  forty  pounds ; 
she  was  agile  notwithstanding,  and  drove  her  husband  [The 
Peasantry,  JJ]. 

Vervelle,  Antenor,  a  grotesque  middle-class  man  of 
Paris,  who  made  his  fortune  as  a  wholesale  butcher.  Retired 
from  trade,  Vervelle  became,  in  his  way,  an  amateur  of  paint- 
ings ;  he  wished  to  create  a  picture  gallery ;  he  believed  that 
he  was  a  Flanders  collector — Teniers,  Metzus,  and  Rembrandts; 
he  engaged  Elie  Magus  in  the  formation  of  his  museum,  and, 
by  the  intermediary  of  that  Jew,  he  married  his  daughter 
Virginie  to  Pierre  Grassou.  Vervelle  at  that  time  owned  and 
lived  in  a  house  on  the  Rue  Boucherat,  a  part  of  the  Rue 
Saint-Louis,*  near  the  Rue  Chariot.  He  also  owned  a  cottage 
at  Ville-d'Avry,  which  contained  the  famous  Flanders  gallery 
*  Now  the  Rue  de  Turenne. 
36 


562  COMPENDIUM 

of  painted  pictures,  all  in  reality  by  Pierre  Grassou  [Pierre 
Grassou,  r\. 

Vervelle,  Madame  Antenor,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  she 
willingly  accepted  Pierre  Grassou  as  her  son-in-law,  when  she 
knew  that  Maitre  Cardot  was  his  notary.  Mme.  Vervelle  was 
alarmed,  nevertheless,  when  Joseph  Bridau  made  a  sudden 
irruption  into  Pierre's  studio  and  ''touched  up"  the  portrait 
of  Mile.  Virginie,  who  later  became  Mme.  Grassou  \IbidJ\. 

Vervelle,  Virginie.     See  Grassou,  Madame  Pierre. 

Veze,  Abbe  de,  a  priest  of  Mortagne,  under  the  Empire; 
he  administered  the  last  sacraments  to  Mme.  Bryond  des 
Tours-Minieres,  executed  in  1810;  he  afterward  became  a 
member  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Consolation,  at  Mme.  de  la 
Chanterie's,  Rue  Chanoinesse,  Paris  [The  Seamy  Side  of 
History,  T\ 

Viallet,  an  excellent  gendarme,  appointed  about  1821; 
corporal  at  Soulanges  vice  Soudry,  retired  [The  Peasantry,  J^]. 

Victoire,  Mme.  de  Restaud's  chambermaid.  See  Con- 
stance. 

Victoire,  the  friend,  servant,  or  neighbor  of  Coralie,  Rue 
de  Vendome,  Paris,  182 1.  She  assisted  the  sick  Lucien  de 
Rubempre  into  Coralie's  apartments  on  the  Rue  de  Vendome, 
after  the  first  presentation  of  "  I'Alcade  dans  I'embarras," 
and  following  the  orgie  on  the  Rue  de  Bendy.  Coralie 
to  her  chambermaid:  ''  'Did  the  porter  see  us?  Was  there 
any  one  else  about,'  she  asked.  '  No,  I  was  sitting  up  for 
you.'  'Does  Victoire  know  anything?'  'Rather  not!' 
returned  Berenice  "  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  iHf  ]. 

Victoire  was,  in  1819,  the  servant  of  Charles  Claparon, 
banker,  Rue  de  Provence,  Paris:  "a  very  Leonarde  dressed 
like  a  fish  hawker"  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O]. 

Victor,  surnamed  the  Parisian ;  a  mysterious  person  who 
lived  maritally  with  the  Marquis  d'Aiglemont's  eldest  daugh- 
ter and  who  made  her  a  mother  a  number  of  times.  Pursued 
by  the   police,  Victor,  who  had  assassinated  the  Baron  de 


COM^DIE  HUMAINE,  563 

Mauny,  found  asylum  for  four  hours,  during  the  Noel  night 
in  one  of  the  latter  years  of  the  Restoration,  in  a  house,  57 
Avenue  de  Paris,  near  the  Montreuil  barrier,  Versailles,  the 
home  of  Helene  d'Aiglemont's*  parents,  whence  she  fled  with 
him.  Under  Louis-Philippe,  Victor,  a  Columbian  corsair, 
captain  of  The  Othello,  again  met  General  d'Aiglemont, 
the  father  of  his  mistress,  who  had  been  a  passenger  on  the 
Saint-Ferdinand  and  whose  life  he  had  saved ;  he  was  liv- 
ing very  happily  with  his  family,  which  was  composed  of 
himself,  Mile.  d'Aiglemont,  and  some  children  she  had  borne 
him.  Victor  perished  at  sea  during  a  shipwreck  [A  Woman 
of  Thirty,  S\ 

Victorine,  a  celebrated  dressmaker  of  Paris ;  among  her 
customers  she  had  the  Duchess  Cataneo,  Louise  de  Chaulieu, 
and  perhaps  Mme.  de  Bargeton  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff — Lost 
Illusions,  JV^-Letters  of  Two  Brides,  v\.  Her  successors  in- 
herited her  name  and  boasted  of  "  the  intelligent  scissors  of 
Victorine  IV.,"  at  the  end  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  at  the 
time  when  Fritot  sold  a  shawl,  which  he  called  the  '*  Selim  " 
shawl,  to  Mrs.  Nosweir[Gaudissart  11. ,  ri\. 

Victorine,  2i chiffo?imere vfhowzs,  with  Mesdames  Josephine 
Madou,  Tancrede,  and  Matifat,  one  of  the  four  godmothers 
who,  as  it  were,  adopted  Charles  Dorlange-Sallenauve  [The 
Deputy  for  Arcis,  _DJD]. 

Vidal  &  Porchon,  commission  booksellers,  Paris,  1821. 
Lucien  de  Rubempre  had  occasion  to  judge  their  mode  of 
operations  when  he  had  been  brutally  enough  refused  by  them 
to  bring  out  his  **  Archer  of  Charles  IX."  and  a  volume  of 
poetry.  Vidal  &  Porchon  at  that  time  had  works  in  their 
warehouse   by    Keratry,    Arlingcourt,    and   Victor   Ducange. 

*  The  murderess  of  one  of  her  brothers,  H6l^ne  d'Aiglemont  had  been 
strangely  stricken  at  a  play  she  attended  with  her  father  and  one  of  her 
brothers,  the  title  being  "  The  Valley  of  the  Torrent ;  or,  The  Murderess," 
a  melodrama  by  Frederic  in  three  acts ;  played  for  the  first  time  at  the 
Porte  Saint-Martin,  May  29,  18 16. 


564  COMPENDIUM 

Vidal  was  a  stout,  brusque  man ;  he  traveled  for  the  firm ; 
Porchon  was  more  diplomatic  and  cooler;  he  seemed  to  have 
special  charge  of  the  business  in  Paris  [A  Distinguished  Pro- 
vincial at  Paris,  Ji"]. 

Vien,  Joseph-Marie,  a  celebrated  painter,  born  at  Mont- 
pellier,  1716;  died  at  Rome,  1809.  In  1758  he  assisted, 
together  with  AUegrain  and  Southerbourg,  his  friend  Sarrasine 
in  carrying  off  Zambinella  to  the  studio  of  the  sculptor,  who 
was  foolishly  smitten  by  the  castrate,  believing  it  to  be  a 
woman.  Afterward  Vien  made  a  copy  of  the  statue  modeled 
by  Sarrasine  from  Zambinella  for  Mme.  de  Lanty,  and  this 
picture  by  Vien  inspired  Girodel,  the  signer  of  "Endymion." 
The  statue  of  Zambinella  made  by  Sarrasine  was  a  long  time 
after  reproduced  by  the  sculptor  Dorian ge-Sallenauve  [Sarra- 
sine, ds,  II. — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Djy\. 

Vieux-Chapeau,  a  soldier  in  the  72d  demi-brigade, 
known  by  Jean  Falcon  (called  Beau-Pied) ;  he  was  killed  in  an 
engagement  with  the  Chouans  in  September,  1799  [The 
Chouans,  ^]. 

Vigneau,  in  the  commune  of  I'lsere,  of  which  Bennassis 
was  like  the  creator,  bravely  took  the  management  of  an  aban- 
doned tile  works  and  was  prosperous  \  he  lived  in  the  midst  of 
a  united  family,  consisting  of  his  mother,  his  mother-in-law, 
and  his  wife ;  at  one  time  he  had  been  in  the  service  of  the 
Graviers,  Grenoble  [The  Country  Doctor,  C\ 

Vigneau,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing ;  a  perfect  house- 
keeper, who  graciously  received  Genestas,  introduced  to  her 
by  Benassis ;  Mme.  Vigneau  at  that  time  was  on  the  eve  of 
becoming  a  mother  [The  Country  Doctor,  O]. 

Vignol.     See  Bouffe.* 

Vignon,  Claud  or  Claude,  French  critic,  born  in  1799; 
possessed  remarkable  qualities  as  an  analyst  in  the  study  of  all 
questions  of  art,   literature,   philosophy,   and   politics.      He 

*  The  paymaster  Gravier  procured  a  number  of  autographs  from  Bouff6, 
the  actor,  for  Mme.  de  la  Baudraye's  album. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  565 

finally  became  a  judge,  reliable  and  sure,  and  of  strong  mind, 
well  known  in  Paris  in  1821 ;  at  this  time  he  assisted  with 
Florine,  an  actress  at  the  Panorama-Dramatique,  in  a  supper 
given  at  the  first  representation  of  "  I'Alcade  dans  I'embarras," 
and  joined  in  a  brilliant  discussion  with  Emilie  Blondet, 
formerly  a  diplomat  to  Germany  [A  Distinguished  Provincial 
at  Paris,  Jf  ].  In  1834,  in  the  journal  founded  by  Raoul 
Nathan,  he  had  charge  as  ''high  critic"  [A  Daughter  of 
Eve,  Y\  For  a  long  time  Vignon  had  as  mistress  Felicite 
des  Touches  (Camille  Maupin).  In  1836  he  visited  Italy,  in 
the  company  of  Leon  de  Lora,  when  he  heard  Maurice  de 
I'Hostal  (the  first  consul  at  Genoa)  recount  the  conjugal 
differences  of  the  Bauvans  [Honorine,  fe].  Again,  in  1836, 
at  Touches,  on  the  Lower  Loire,  Vignon  broke  off  his 
relations  with  Camille  Maupin;  seeing  with  almost  super- 
natural penetration,  told  in  a  genuine,  sentimental  conver- 
sation, that  his  quondam  mistress  was  in  love  with  another. 
The  subject  of  this  talk  was  the  relations  of  Calyste  du  Guenic, 
Gennaro  Conti,  and  Beatrix  Rochefide.  Of  such  science  of 
the  human  heart  as  he  knew,  however  small  it  might  be,  he 
found  that  all  companionship  finally  became  sad  and  tiresome; 
he  looked  upon  a  debauch  as  a  remedy  against  ennui ;  he  often 
visited  and  helped  mould  the  character  of  Schontz,  a  courtesan 
of  superior  abilities  [Beatrix,  JP].  Following  this  he  had  an 
ambition  to  be  secretary  to  the  minister  of  War,  Cottin  de 
Wissembourg :  this  position  brought  him  in  contact  with 
•y  Valerie  Marneffe,  whom  he  secretly  loved ;  he  was  intimate 
with  Stidmann,  Steinbock,  and  Massol,  and  was  with  them  a 
witness  of  the  second  marriage  of  the  Marneffe  woman  with 
Crevel.  He  figured  as  one  of  the  regular  guests  at  Valerie's 
drawing-rooms,  with  "  Jean -Jacques  Bixiou,  the  wit,  and 
Lisbeth  Fischer,  the  cunning"  [Cousin  Betty,  w?].  He  sup- 
ported the  government  of  Louis-Philippe,  became  a  writer  on 
the  "Journal  des  Debats,"  and  master  of  requests  to  the 
Council  of  State.     Claud  Vignon  is  also  used  in  the  trial 


666  COMPENDIUM 

pending  between  Gazonal  and  the  prefect  of  the  Eastern 
Pyrenees ;  he  had  a  position  in  the  library,  a  chair  in  the  Sor- 
bonne,  and  the  decoration ;  he  was  also  on  the  committee 
which  passed  on  Gazonal's  case,  in  which  he  favored  him 
[The  Unconscious  Mummers,  if],  Vignon's  reputation  for 
the  rest  is  a  great  one,  and,  in  our  day,  Mme.  Noemi  Rouvier, 
sculptor  and  novelist,  signs  her  works  under  the  name  of  this 
critic. 

Vigor,  manager  of  post-horses  at  Ville-aux-Fayes,  under 
the  Restoration ;  major  in  the  National  Guard  in  that  sub- 
prefecture  ;  the  brother-in-law  of  the  banker  Leclercq,  whose 
sister  he  married  [The  Peasantry,  J?]. 

Vigor,  younger  brother  of  the  foregoing;  in  1823  he  was 
lieutenant  in  the  gendarmes  at  Ville-aux-Fayes.  He  married 
Sibilet's  sister  ;  her  brother  was  clerk  of  the  court  in  the  same 
sub-prefecture  [The  Peasantry,  _R]. 

Vigor,  son  of  the  foregoing,  and,  like  his  family,  interested 
in  protecting  Francois  Gaubertin  against  Montcornet ;  in  1823 
he  was  substitute  judge  of  the  court  at  Ville-aux-Fayes  [The 
Peasantry,  jR]. 

Villemot,  head  clerk  to  the  bailiff  Tabareau ;  in  April, 
1845,  h^  was  commissioned  to  look  after  and  see  to  the 
details  in  the  burying  of  Sylvain  Pons;  also  to  look  after 
Schmucke's  interests,  who  was  the  designated  universal  legatee 
of  the  deceased.  Villemot  was  secured  by  Fraisier,  the  man 
of  business  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville  [Cousin  Pons,  oc\. 

Villenoix,  Salomon  de,  the  son  of  a  Jew,  named  Salomon, 
who  became  very  wealthy  and  married  a  Catholic  in  his  old 
age.  Raised  in  his  mother's  religion,  he  made  a  barony  of 
his  estate  of  Villenoix  [Louis  Lambert,  tf]. 

Villenoix,  Pauline  Salomon  de,  born  about  1800;  the 
natural  daughter  of  .the  foregoing.  Under  the  Restoration 
she  suffered  for  her  origin.  Her  nature  and  superiority  were 
looked  upon  as  being  evil  in  the  provinces.  Her  meeting 
with  Louis  Lambert  decided  her  life.     Their  community  of 


COMADIE  HUMAINE.  567 

age  and  country,  and  the  scorn  and  pride  of  their  hearts  as- 
similated ;  it  resulted  in  a  reciprocal  passion.  Mile.  Salomon 
de  Villenoix  was  about  to  marry  Louis  Lambert,  when  a 
scientist  declared  that  he  was  suffering  from  a  mental  malady. 
Pauline  frequently  dispelled  the  crises  of  his  disease;  she 
cared  for,  advised,  and  managed  him,  notably  at  Croisic, 
where,  on  Mile,  de  Villenoix's  advice,  Louis  took  up  his  pen 
to  relate,  under  the  form  of  a  letter,  the  tragic  misfortunes  of 
the  Cambremers,  with  which  he  was  well  acquainted.  Pauline 
returned  to  Villenoix  with  her  fiance,  she  received  him  there 
and  she  understood  his  every  thought,  given  with  a  grandiose 
incoherence ;  she  saw  him  die  in  her  arms,  and  she  ever  after 
considered  herself  as  Louis  Lambert's  widow  ;  he  was  interred 
in  her  park  of  Villenoix  [Louis  Lambert,  u — A  Seaside 
Tragedy,  e\.  Two  years  later,  a  worn-out  woman,  almost 
retired  from  the  world,  she  lived  in  the  town  of  Tours ;  she 
was  full  of  sympathy  for  the  weak ;  and  Pauline  de  Villenoix 
protected  Abbe  Francois  Birotteau,  Troubert's  victim  [The 
Abbe  Birotteau,  t], 

Vilquin,  the  richest  captain  of  privateers  in  Havre,  under 
the  Restoration ;  he  bought  all  the  ruined  Charles  Mignon's 
properties,  with  the  exception  of  a  cottage  given  by  Mignon 
to  Dumay :  this  habitation  was  contiguous  to  the  millionaire's 
superb  villa,  and  was  the  despair  of  Vilquin  ;  Dumay  obsti- 
nately refused  to  sell  it  [Modeste  Mignon,  K\ 

Vilquin,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  d'Estourny  had 
been  her  lover  before  turning  his  attentions  to  Bettina-Caro- 
line  Mignon  ;  she  made  her  husband  the  father  of  three  chil- 
dren, of  whom  two  were  daughters  ;  the  eldest,  richly  dowered, 
became  Mme.  Francisque  Althor  [Modeste  Mignon,  K\ 

Vimeux,  in  1824,  was  a  modest  justice  of  the  peace  in 
the  department  of  the  North  ;  he  condemned  the  kind  of  life 
led  by  his  son  Adolphe  in  Paris  [Les  Employes,  cc]. 

Vimeux,  Adolphe,  son  of  the  foregoing,  was,  in  1824,  a 
copying-clerk  in  the  Bureau  of  Finance,  in  Xavier  Rabour- 


568  COMPENDIUM 

din's  office.  Very  elegant  and  exclusively  occupied  in  his 
toilet,  he  was  content  to  take  his  meagre  ordinary  at  the 
tavern-keeper  Katcomb's,*  and  became  Antoine's  (the  door- 
keeper of  the  bureau)  debtor.  His  secret  ambition  was  to 
succeed  in  marying  some  rich  old  woman  [Les  Employes,  cc\. 

Vinet  had  a  painful  commencement.  A  deception  at- 
tended the  opening  of  his  career.  He  had  seduced  a  Charge- 
boeuf,  and  he  thought  that  her  parents,  accepting  him  in 
marriage,  would  richly  endower  their  daughter ;  but  when  he 
married  Mile,  de  Chargeboeuf  she  was  abandoned  by  her 
family,  and  he  had  to  rely  solely  upon  himself.  Vinet,  as  a 
barrister  of  Provins,  made  but  little  headway ;  he  was  the  head 
of  the  local  Opposition,  thanks  to  Gouraud's  concurrence ; 
he  exploited  Denis  Rogron,  a  wealthy,  retired  merchant,  and 
founded  the  "  Courrier  de  Provins,"  a  Liberal  gazette  which 
cunningly  defended  the  Rogrons,  when  accused  of  having 
slowly  assassinated  Pierrette  Lorrain ;  he  was  elected  deputy 
about  1830;  became  also  public  prosecutor,  and  possibly  a 
minister  of  justice  [Pierrette,  % — The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Djy 
— The  Middle  Classes,  ee — Cousin  Pons,  x]. 

Vinet,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  nee  Chargebceuf, 
and  as  a  consequence  one  of  the  descendants  of  that  "  noble 
old  family  of  Brie,  whose  name  came  from  the  exploit  of  a 
groom  in  Saint-Louis'  expedition";  she  was  the  mother  of 
two  children,  who  sufficed  for  her  happiness.  She  was  abso- 
lutely dominated  by  her  sacrificed  husband ;  she  was  repu- 
diated by  her  own  family  since  her  mesalliance.  Mme.  Vinet 
dared,  amongst  the  Rogrons,  to  take  the  part  of  Pierrette 
Lorrain,  their  victim  [Pierrette,  i]. 

Vinet,  Olivier,  son  of  the  foregoing,  born  in  1816.  A 
judge  like  his  father,  he  made  his  debut  as  substitute  prose- 
cutor at  Arcis,  passing  from  thence  to  a  similar  post  in  the 

*  This  culinary  establishment,  which  was  renowned  for  its  roast  beef, 
was  still  in  existence  about  1848,  on  the  Rue  des  Petits-Champs — then 
the  Neuve-des- Petits-Champs — near  the  Rue  d'Antin. 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  569 

town  of  Mantes,  afterward  was  a  substitute  at  Paris.  The 
paternal  reputation,  impertinent  raillery,  in  this  Vinet  was 
particularly  great.  Amongst  the  Arcis  folk  Olivier  only 
frequented  the  little  colony  of  functionaries  composed  of 
Goulard,  Michu,  and  Marest  [The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  X>X>]. 
The  rival  of  Maitre  Fraisier  in  the  affections  of  Mme.  Vati- 
nelle,  of  Mantes,  he  resolved  to  win  out  by  breaking  his  career 
[Cousin  Pons,  dc\.  Vinet  was  at  the  Thuilliers,  Rue  Saint- 
Dominique  d'Enfer,  Paris,  where  he  trotted  out  his  habitual 
impertinence ;  he  was  one  of  the  pretenders  to  the  hand  of 
Celeste  CoUeville,  who  later  became  Mme.  Felix  Phellion 
[The  Middle  Classes,  ee\. 

Violette,  a  farmer  who  had  the  Grouage  farm  near  Arcis, 
which  was  a  dependency  of  the  Gondreville  estate  at  the  time 
that  Peyrade  and  Corentin,  following  the  instructions  of 
Fouche,  carried  out  the  strange  abduction  of  Malin  de  Gon- 
dreville and  won  the  day  against  Michu,  the  mysterious  agent 
of  the  Cinq-Cygne,  Hauteserre,  and  Simeuse  families  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Violette,  Jean,  a  hosier  of  Arcis  in  1837;  after  Phileas 
Beauvisage  he  took  Pigoult's  commercial  establishment ;  in  the 
electoral  movement  of  1839  Jean  Violette  seems  to  have 
remained  on  the  side  of  the  house  of  Malin  de  Gondreville 
[The  Deputy  for  Arcis,  Tyiy\. 

Virginie,  a  cook  in  Cesar  Birotteau's  house,  1818  [C^sar 
Birotteau,  O]. 

Virginie,  between  the  years  1835-36,  Rue  Neuve-des- 
Mathurins,*  Paris,  was  chambermaid  of  Marie-Eugenie  du 
Tillet,  at  that  time  fully  occupied  with  Ang^lique-Marie  de 
Vandenesse's  imprudences  [A  Daughter  of  Eve,  V\ 

Virginie,  the  mistress  of  a  Provencal  soldier,  who  after- 
ward, during  Bonaparte's  campaign  in  Egypt,  lived  for  some 
time  lost  in  the  desert,  where  he  had  a  panther  for  his  com- 
panion [A  Passion  in  the  Desert,  d^s,  II.]. 
*  Now  the  Rue  des  Mathurins. 


570  COMPENDIUM 

Virginie,  a  Parisian  milliner,  whose  hats  were  lauded  by 
Andoche  Finot's  newspaper  for  a  monetary  consideration, 
1821  [A  Distinguished  Provincial  at  Paris,  ilfT]. 

Virlaz,  a  wealthy  furrier  of  Leipzic,  whose  heir,  in  the 
middle  of  Louis-Philippe's  reign,  was  his  nephew,  Frederic 
Brunner.  During  his  lifetime  that  Israelite,  the  head  of  the 
firm  of  Virlaz  &  Co.,  was  distrustful  of  Brunner  senior,  the 
Frankfort  innkeeper,  and  he  deposited  Mme.  Brunner's  fortune 
— the  first  of  that  name — in  the  Al-Sartchild  bank  safes 
[Cousin  Pons,  d(^\. 

Vissard,  Marquis  du,  was,  in  remembrance  of  Chevalier 
Rifoel  du  Vissard,  his  younger  brother,  created  a  peer  of 
France  by  Louis  XVIIL;  he  gave  him  admission,  as  a  lieu- 
tenant, in  the  Maison-Rouge ;  and  appointed  him  prefect 
when  once  the  Maison-Rouge  was  dissolved  [The  Seamy  Side 
of  History,  T\ 

Vissard,  Charles-Amedee-Louis- Joseph  Rifoel,  Chev- 
alier DU,  a  gentleman  possessing  an  entirely  noble  character ; 
he  played  an  important  part  in  the  divers  anti-revolutionary 
insurrections  in  the  West  of  France  after  1789.  In  December, 
1799,  he  is  found  at  Vivetidre,  where  his  impatience  contrasted 
with  the  cool  matter-of-fact  methods  of  the  Marquis  Alphonse 
de  Montauran,  called  the  Gars  [The  Chouans,  ^].  He  took 
part  in  the  Quiberon  combat,  and  with  Boislaurier  took  the 
initiative  in  the  "Chauffeurs  de  Mortagne "  affair.  Many 
circumstances  still  contributed  to  increase  his  Royalism : 
Fergus  found  in  Henriette  Bryond  des  Tours-Minieres  a 
second  Diana  Vernon,  and  became  her  lover;  further,  his 
monarchical  zeal  was  inflamed  by  Bryond  des  Tours-Minieres 
— Contenson  the  spy — who  secretly  betrayed  him.  Like  his 
accomplices,  Rifoel  was  executed  in  1809.  He  once  disguised 
himself  under  the  name  of  Pierrot  during  the  campaign  against 
the  Revolution  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T]. 

Vissembourg,  Due  de,  son  of  Marechal  Vernon,  brother 
of   Prince  Chiavari ;    he    presided,   about    1835    ^"^    ^^l^i 


COMEDIE  HUMAINE.  571 

over  a  horticultural  society  of  which  Fabien  du  Ronceret  was 
vice-president  [Beatrix,  J^]. 

Vitagliani,  a  tenor  at  the  Argentina,  what  time  Zambi- 
nella  sang  soprano  there,  in  1758,  on  that  Roman  stage; 
Vitagliani  "jollied"  J.  E.  Sarrasine  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II.]. 

Vital,  born  about  18 10,  a  Parisian  hatter ;  married ;  suc- 
cessor to  Finot  senior,  in  the  warehouse  situated  on  the  Rue  du 
Coq;  he  was  much  the  style  about  1845,  ^^^  seemed  to  de- 
serve his  reputation.  He  amused  Bixiou  and  Leon  de  Lora 
by  his  ridiculous  pretensions ;  he  would  have  made  a  hat  for 
Gazonal  similar  to  that  worn  by  Lousteau.  On  this  occasion 
Vital  pointed  out  to  them  a  masterpiece  invented  by  Claud 
Vignon,  which — politically — was  the  happy  medium.  Finot's 
successor,  in  fact,  fashioned  the  hat  to  the  style  of  the  wearer ; 
the  hat  followed  the  person  who  wore  it ;  he  boasted  of  Prince 
de  Bethune's,  and  dreamed  of  the  suppression  of  the  "tall 
hat"  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  tf]. 

Vital,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  "believed  in 
the  genius  and  greatness  of  her  husband."  She  was  in  the 
warehouse  when  the  hatter  received  the  visit  of  Bixiou,  de 
Lora,  and  Gazonal  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  ti]. 

Vitel,  born  in  1776;  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Paris,  1845  5 
known  by  Dr.  Poulain ;  he  had  as  his  successor  Maitre  Fraisier, 
the  protege  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville  [Cousin  Pons,  dc\. 

Vitelot,  partner  of  Sonet,  the  marble-cutter ;  he  designed 
the  funeral  monuments ;  those  he  designed  for  de  Marsay  the 
minister  and  Keller  the  officer  were  both  refused,  Stidmann 
being  commissioned  to  do  the  work.  In  the  month  of  April, 
1845,  ^^^  same  plans  were  retouched  and  offered  to  Wilhelm 
Schmucke,  for  the  grave  of  Sylvain  Pons,  who  was  buried  at 
Pere-Lachaise  [Cousin  Pons,  a?]. 

Vitelot,  Madame,  wife  of  the  foregoing;  she  reprimanded 
the  agent  of  their  firm  for  having  brought  Schmucke,  Pons' 
heir,  to  them  as  a  customer  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Vivet,  Madeleine,  a  servant  of  the  Camusots  de  Marville  j 


572  COMPENDIUM 

for  nearly  twenty-five  years  she  was  their  feminine  ''Maitre 
Jacques."  She  vainly  tried  to  marry  Sylvain  Pons  so  as  to 
become  her  master's  cousin.  Madeleine  Vivet,  disappointed 
in  her  matrimonial  designs,  took  an  aversion  to  Pons  and 
afterward  persecuted  him  in  a  thousand  little  ways  [Vautrin's 
Last  Avatar,  z — Cousin  Pons,  aj]. 

Volfgang,  cashier  to  the  baron  of  the  Holy  Empire,  F.  de 
Nucingen,  at  the  time  of  the  celebrated  Parisian  banquet  on  the 
Rue  Saint-Lazare,  when  Nucingen  had  fallen  foolishly  in  love 
with  Esther  van  Gobseck ;  and  also  when  he  caused  Jacques 
Falleix's  discomfiture.  He  lived  on  the  Rue  de  TArcade, 
near  Rue  des  Mathurins,  Paris  [The  Harlot's  Progress,  Y\ 

Vordac,  Marquise  de,  born  in  1 769 ;  the  mistress  of  the 
wealthy  Lord  Dudley ;  by  him  she  had  one  son,  Henri,  and 
to  legitimize  that  child  she  contracted  a  marriage  with  Marsay, 
an  old  ruined  gentleman,  who  was  paid  the  income  on  one 
hundred  thousand  francs  for  his  compliance;  he  died,  and  had 
never  known  his  wife.  Marsay's  widow,  by  her  second  wed- 
ding, became  the  noted  Marquise  de  Vordac.  She  did  not 
wholly  devote  herself  to  her  maternal  duties  ;  but  she  proposed 
that  Henri  de  Marsay  take  Miss  Stevens  as  his  wife  [The  Girl 
with  Golden  Eyes,  ds,  IL — A  Marriage  Settlement,  aa\. 

Vulpato,  La,  a  noble  Venetian  ;  a  regular  attendant  at  the 
Fenise,  about  1820;  he,  Emilio  Memmi  (Prince  de  Varese), 
and  Massimilla  Doni  (Duchess  Cataneo)  were  on  excellent 
terms  with  each  other  [Massimilla  Doni,  ff\ 

Vyder,  an  anagram  of  d'Ervy,  and  one  of  the  three  names 
successively  taken  by  Baron  Hector  Hulot  d'Ervy,  after  his 
flight  from  the  conjugal  domicile:  he  hid  himself  under  this 
pseudonym  when  he  became  a  public  writer  at  Paris,  at  the 
bottom  of  Little  Poland,*  in  the  Passage  du  Soleil,  Rue  de  la 
Pepinidre  [Cousin  Betty,  w\. 

*  The  Boulevard  Malesherbes  destroyed  the  faubourg  Saint-Marceau 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  ;  the  Bienfaisance  quarter  was  precisely  the 
corner  that  was  at  once  the  most  hideous  and  most  picturesque  to  be  found. 


COMADIE  HUMAINE,  573 


W 

Wadmann,  the  English  owner  of  a  cottage  and  meadows 
in  Normandy,  near  the  Marville  estate,  that  Mme.  Camusot  de 
Marville  showed  some  intention  of  buying — the  insular  man 
was  on  the  point  of  returning  to  England,  after  twenty  years' 
sojourn  in  France  [Cousin  Pons,  Qc\. 

Wahlenfer  or  Walhenfer,  a  rich  German  trader,  who 
was  assassinated  in  the  month  of  October,  1799,  ^^  "The  Red 
House,"  near  Andernach,  by  Jean-Frederic  Taillefer,  then  a 
military  surgeon  in  the  French  army ;  he  allowed  his  comrade, 
Prosper  Magnan,  to  be  "executed  for  that  crime.  Wahlenfer 
was  a  little  fat  man,  with  a  round  face  and  a  frank  and  cor- 
dial manner;  he  owned  an  important  pin  factory  in  the  vicinity 
of  Neuwied.  He  came  from  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Perhaps  "  Wal- 
henfer" was  not  the  real  name  of  the  trader  [The  Red 
House,  ci]. 

"Wallenrod-Tustall-Bartenstild,  Baron  de,  born  in 
1742  ;  a  banker  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main ;  in  1804  he  married 
his  only  daughter,  Bettina,  to  Charles  Mignon  de  la  Bastie, 
then  a  simple  lieutenant  in  the  French  army;  he  died  in 
18 1 4,  following  a  disastrous  speculation  in  cotton  [Modeste 
Mignon,  jBT]. 

Watschildine,  a  firm  in  London  that  corresponded  with 
F.  de  Nucingen  the  banker  in  business  affairs.  On  one  dark 
evening  in  the  autumn  of  1821,  the  cashier  Rodolphe  Cas- 
tanier  was  engaged  in  counterfeiting  his  employer's  signature 
to  the  letters  of  credit  issued  on  the  Watschildine  house,  when 
he  was  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  the  satanic  John  Mel- 
moth  [Melmoth  Reconciled,  d']. 

^A^attebled,  a  grocer  at  Soulanges,  1823  ;  the  father  of 
the  handsome  Mme.  Plissoud,  who  formed  a  portion  of  the 
**  second  society  "  in  that  town  ;  he  had  his  store  on  the  first 
floor  of  Mayor  Soudry's  house  [The  Peasantry,  22]. 


574  COMPENDIUM 

Watteville,  Baron  de,  a  gentleman  of  Besangon,  of 
Swiss  origin ;  the  last  descendant  of  the  famous  renegade 
abbe,  Don  Jean  de  Watteville,  cur6  of  Baumes,  1613  to  1703; 
a  weazened,  dried-up  little  man  without  intelligence ;  he 
passed  his  life  in  a  fine  workshop  with  a  lathe ;  he  was  a 
turner;  he  '* enjoyed  the  profoundest  ignorance";  he  col" 
lected  shells  and  geological  fragments;  he  had  a  "good 
heart."  After  having  lived  in  the  comte  "like  a  woodlouse 
in  a  wainscot,"  he  married,  in  181 5,  Clotilde-Louise  de  Rupt, 
who  completely  dominated  him,  and  with  whom  he  lived 
until  she  lost  her  parents,  about  1819,  in  the  hotel  de  Rupt, 
Rue  de  la  Prefecture,  the  great  garden  which  extended  as 
far  as  the  Rue  du  Perron.  By  his  wife  Baron  de  Watteville 
had  one  daughter,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  and  he  had  a  weak- 
ness for  doing  what  she  wished.  M.  de  Watteville  died  in 
1836,  following  a  fall  into  the  lake  on  his  estate  at  Rouxey, 
near  Besangon ;  he  was  buried  on  a  small  island  in  the 
lake,  where  his  wife,  pretending  an  exaggerated  grief,  had  a 
gothic  white  marble  monument  raised  to  his  memory,  similar 
to  that  of  Heloise  and  Abelard  at  Pere-Lachaise  [Albert 
Savaron,  /]. 

Watteville,  Baronne  de,  wife  of  the  foregoing,  who,  be- 
come a  widow,  married  Amedee  de  Soulas.  See  Soulas, 
Madame  A.  de. 

Watteville,  Rosalie  de,  the  only  daughter  of  the  two 
foregoing  persons,  born  in  1816]  fragile,  slender,  flat,  light- 
complexioned,  and  pale,  with  light  blue  eyes,  a  perfect  re- 
semblance to  a  Saint  by  Albert  Diirer.  Raised  in  strict 
austerity  by  her  mother,  who  was  habituated  to  the  straitest 
practices  of  religion,  she  was  quite  ignorant  of  the  things  of 
the  world,  and  she  concealed  under  a  modest  manner  and 
an  air  of  absolute  insignificance  a  character  of  iron  and  the 
romantic  audacity  of  her  great-uncle.  Abbe  de  Watteville, 
aggravated  by  the  tenacity  and  pride  of  the  blood  of  the 
Rupts.     Destined  by  her  mother  to  marry  Amddee  de  Soulas, 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  575 

''sweet  pea" — or  '* pease  blossom"* — of  Besangon,  she  was 
deeply  smitten  by  the  barrister  Albert  Savaron  de  Savarus. 
Although  she  knew  that  he  had  no  passion  for  herself,  Rosa- 
lie, by  extraordinary  machinations,  separated  the  Duchesse 
d'Argaiblo,  whom  he  loved  and  who  loved  him,  from  Savarus, 
which  resulted  in  his  despair;  he  secluded  himself  in  the 
Grand  Chartreuse.  Mile,  de  Watteville  afterward  lived  at 
Paris  for  some  time  with  her  mother,  now  married  to  Amedee 
de  Soulas ;  she  there  sought  to  see  the  Duchesse  d'ArgaVolo, 
who  thought  she  had  been  treacherously  dealt  with  by  Savarus, 
and  who  had  for  this  reason  given  her  hand  to  the  Due  de 
Rhetore;  they  met  in  February,  1838,  at  a  charity  ball  held 
on  behalf  of  the  pensioners  of  the  old  civil  list,  when  she 
revealed  to  her  former  rival  the  secret  of  her  schemes  against 
Mme.  de  Rhetore  and  her  own  conduct  in  regard  to  the  bar- 
rister. Mile,  de  Watteville  later  retired  to  Rouxey,  which 
she  seldom  left  except  on  one  journey  for  an  unknown  end, 
1 841,  when  she  was  cruelly  crippled  :  she  was  on  a  steamboat 
when  the  boiler  burst,  and  Mile,  de  Watteville  lost  an  arm 
and  a  leg.  This  last  descendant  of  Abbe  de  Watteville 
henceforth  wholly  consecrated  herself  to  religious  practices 
and  never  afterward  left  her  retreat  [Albert  Savaron,  /*]. 

Welff,  called  the  Grand  Welff,  after  eleven  years  of  service 
in  the  cavalry  in  the  campaigns  on. the  Rhine,  in  Italy,  and 
in  Egypt  under  Generals  Steingel  and  Bonaparte,  was  a 
gendarme  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  1803,  at  the  time  of  the  descent 
of  the  police  on  Cinq-Cygne ;  he  assisted  Corentin  and  Pey- 
rade  in  their  fruitless  search,  and  remained  the  enemy  of 
Michu,  the  Hauteserres,  and  the  Siraeuses,  against  whom  he 
still  acted,  at  the  time  of  the  mysterious  abduction  of  Senator 
Malin  de  Gondreville ;  Welff  was  then  sub-lieutenant  [A 
Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 

Werbrust,  Raima's  partner;  a  Parisian  commercial  bill 
discounter.   Rues  Saint-Denis   and    Saint-Martin,   under   the 

*  The  title  of  one  of  the  old  editions  of  "A  Marriage  Settlement." 


576  COMPENDIUM 

Restoration;  he  knew  the  story  of  the  grandeur  and  deca- 
dence of  Cesar  Birotteau,  mayor  of  the  eleventh  arrondisse- 
ment;*  he  was  the  friend  of  Jean-Baptiste  d'Aldrigger,  the 
banker,  and  assisted  at  his  burial ;  he  also  did  business  with 
Baron  de  Nucingen ;  among  other  operations  he  cunningly 
speculated  in  the  third  liquidation  operated  by  Nucingen  m 
1836  [Cesar  Birotteau,  O — The  Firm  of  Nucingen,  t\ 

Wierzchownia,  Adam  de,  a  Polish  gentleman  who  was, 
after  the  last  partition  of  Poland,  a  refugee  in  Sweden,  where 
he  sought  for  consolation  in  studying  chemistry,  for  which  he 
had  always  had  an  irresistible  vocation.  Torn  by  poverty 
from  his  works  he  entered  the  French  army,  and,  in  1809, 
while  passing  through  Douai,  was  lodged  for  one  night  only 
with  M.  Balthazar  Claes.  In  a  conversation  with  his  host  he 
explained  to  him  his  ideas  on  "  the  unity  of  matter"  and  the 
absolute,  and  thus  caused  the  unhappiness  of  a  whole  family, 
for,  from  that  time,  Balthazar  Claes  consecrated  time  and 
money  to  the  Quest  of  the  Absolute.  Adam  de  Wierzchownia 
died  at  Dresden  in  181 2,  of  a  wound  received  during  the  last 
engagements ;  he  wrote  Balthazar  Claes  a  supreme  letter  be- 
queathing him  divers  ideas  which,  since  their  meeting  of  one 
day,  had  struck  him  as  being  relative  to  the  search  in  ques- 
tion ;  by  this  proceeding  he  still  further  aggravated  the 
misery  of  the  Claes  f  family.  Adam  de  Wierzchownia  J  had 
a  wasted,  angular  face,  a  large  cranium  without  hair,  with 
eyes  that  seemed  like  tongues  of  fire,  and  an  enormous  mus- 
tache, and  his  calm  movements  frightened  Mme.  Balthazar 
Claes  §  [The  Quest  of  the  Absolute,  X)]. 

*  This  later  formed  the  Montmarte  and  the  Banque  faubourgs. 

f  The  original  orthography  of  this  is  Claes  and  not  Claes,  the  latter 
being  the  French  formation. 

\  The  Ukraines  owned  a  place  by  the  same  name. 

\  Under  the  title  "  Gold  !  or  the  Dream  of  a  Savant,"  there  is  a  vaude- 
ville by  Bayard  and  Bi^ville  devoted  to  the  sorrows  of  the  Claes ;  it  was 
presented  at  the  Gymnase,  November  ii,  1837,  and  was  played  by  M. 
BoufT6  and  Mme.  E.  Sauvage. 


COM&DIE  HUMAINE.  bll 

Willemsens,  Marie-Augusta.  See  Brandon,*  Com- 
tesse  de. 

W^imphen,  De,  married  a  childhood  friend  of  Mme. 
d'Aiglemont  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S\ 

Wimphen,  Madame  Louisa  de,  a  friend  of  Mme.  d'Aigle- 
mont in  her  childhood ;  they  were  brought  up  together  at 
Ecouen.  In  1814  Mme.  d'Aiglemont  wrote  her  companion, 
then  on  the  eve  of  being  married,  of  the  disenchantments  of 
her  own  life,  and  advised  her  to  remain  a  maiden.  This 
letter  indeed  was  not  sent ;  Comtesse  de  Listomere-Landon, 
her  aunt  by  marriage,  took  the  blame  for  its  miscarriage.  To 
the  contrary  of  her  friend,  Mme.  de  Wimphen  was  happy  in 
her  marriage ;  she  nevertheless  remained  Mme.  d'Aiglemont's 
confidential  friend ;  she  was  present  at  the  meeting  between 
Julie  and  Lord  Grenville ;  at  that  moment  M.  de  Wimphen 
sought  his  wife,  leaving  the  two  lovers  in  each  other's  com- 
pany, but  the  inopportune  return  of  M.  d'Aiglemont  com- 
pelled Lord  Grenville  to  hide  himself,  and  the  Englishman 
died  shortly  after,  owing  to  the  night  he  passed  bringing  on 
a  severe  cold,  as  he  hung  outside  a  window,  after  having  had 
his  fingers  crushed  by  being  caught  in  the  closet  door  as  it 
was  violently  closed  [A  Woman  of  Thirty,  S^. 

Wirth,  the  banker  J.  B.  d'Aldrigger's  valet ;  he  remained 
in  the  service  of  Mme.  and  Mile.  d'Aldrigger  after  the  death 
of  the  head  of  the  family,  and  preserved  to  them  the  devotion 
he  had  already  often  proved.  Wirth,  a  sort  of  Caleb  or 
Alsacian  Gaspard,  was  old  and  solemn,  clothed  in  much 
finesse  and  of  great  good  humor ;  he  saw  in  Godefroid  de 
Beaudenord  a  husband  for  Isaure  d'Aldrigger ;  he  cunningly 
'Mimed"  him,  and  certainly  contributed  to  their  union  [The 
Firm  of  Nucingen,  f]. 

"Wisch,  JoHANN.      The   name  which  a   newspaper  ficti- 

"*  Lady  Brandon  was  the  mother  of  Louis- Gaston  and  Marie-Gaston ; 
these  two  names,  after  the  minutest  researches,  must    convey  the  only 
feature  of  her  union. 
37 


678  COMPENDIUM 

tiously  gave  to  Johann  Fischer,  accused  of  extortion,  in  order 
to  not  compromise  Baron  Hulot  d'Ervy,  his  relation  and 
accomplice  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Wissembourg,  Prince  de,  one  of  the  titles  of  Marechal 
Cottin,  who  was  also  Due  d'Orfano  [Cousin  Betty,  w\ 

Witschnau.     See  Gaudin. 


X 


Ximeuse,  a  fief  situated  in  Lorraine ;  the  true  and  primi- 
tive orthography  of  the  name  of  Simeuse ;  the  family  ended 
by  writing  it  with  a  S  on  account  of  the  pronunciation  of 
the  name  [A  Historical  Mystery,  ff\ 


Ysembourg,  Prince  d',  a  marshal  of  France;  the  Cond(§ 
of  the  Republic,  a  *•  booby,"  according  to  Mme.  Nourrisson, 
his  confidential  woman ;  he  gave  two  thousand  francs  to  one 
of  the  most  renowned  countesses  of  the  Imperial  Court,  who 
one  day  came  to  find  him,  and  implored  him  with  tears  to 
afford  her  the  succor  indispensable  to  the  life  of  her  children  ; 
the  money  was  spent  in  the  purchase  of  a  dress,  which  she 
needed  in  order  to  appear  at  an  ambassador's  ball.  This  anec- 
dote was  related  by  Mme.  Nourrisson  to  Leon  de  Lora,  Bixiou, 
and  Gazonal,  in  1845  [The  Unconscious  Mummers,  Vb\. 


Zambinella,  a  castrate  and  singer  at  the  Argentina  theatre, 
Rome,  1758;  the  "  prima  donna"  ;  he  was  of  an  ideal  beauty; 
the  sculptor  Sarrasine,  smitten  by  Zambinella,  thinking  he  was 
a  woman,  m^c^^  a  §tatye  in  his  likeness,  an  admirable  Adonis, 


which  still  exists  in  the  Albani  museum,  and  was  copied,  near 
the  end  of  the  following  century,  by  Dorlange-Sallenauve. 
More  than  an  octogenarian  and  immensely  rich,  Zambinella 
lived,  under  the  Restoration,  at  Paris,  with  his  niece,  who  was 
married  to  the  mysterious  Lanty.  Zambinella  was  always 
surrounded  by  the  Lantys ;  he  died  at  Rome  in  1830.  The 
anterior  existence  of  Zambinella  was  unknown  to  Parisian 
society;  in  the  strange  old  man,  a  species  of  ambulating 
mummy,  a  magnetizer  recognized  the  celebrated  Balsamo, 
called  Cagliostro ;  and  Ferette's*  bailiff  saw  in  him  the  Comte 
de  Saint-Germain  [Sarrasine,  ds,  II. — The  Deputy  for 
Arcis,  J)D]. 

Zarnowicki,  RoMAN,f  a  Polish  general,  a  refugee  in  Paris  ; 
in  1836  he  resided  on  the  first  floor  of  the  little  hotel  on  the 
Rue  de  Marbeuf,J  of  which  the  physician  Halpersohn  oc- 
cupied the  second  floor  [The  Seamy  Side  of  History,  T\ 

*  Also  spelt  Ferrette. 

f  Without  doubt  a  given  name. 

X  Then  a  new  and  nearly  deserted  thoroughfare. 


Compiler's  Note. — As  the  reader  will  notice,  the  Com- 
pendium only  embraces  the  biographies  of  those  characters 
which  appear  again  and  again  in  the  various  books  of  the 
Comedie  Humaine,  the  others  do  but  form  the  corps  of  su- 
pernumeraries. Consequently  the  novels  entitled:  About 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  The  Exiles,  Maitre  Cornelius,  The  Un- 
known Masterpiece,  The  Elixir  of  Life,  and  Christ  in  Flan- 
ders, which  are  outside  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  cen- 
turies, and  Seraphita,  which  is  beyond  the  realm  of  fact,  are 
eliminated.  The  Hated  Son  and  Droll  Stories  occasionally 
furnish  some  indispensable  information  for  a  small  number  of 
the  biographies. 

According  to  Theophile  Gautier  the  Comedie  Humaine 
contains  two   thousand   characters.      This  number  is  about 


580  COMPENDIUM 

correct ;  but  by  reason  of  cross-references,  nicknames,  double- 
names,  etc.,  it  will  be  seen  that  that  enumeration  is  exceeded 
in  this  work.  And  yet  we  have  not  placed  therein,  as  they 
are  outside  the  action,  Chevet,  Decamps,  Delacroix,  Finot 
senior,  Calyste  and  Sabine  du  Gu6nic's  sons,  Noemi  Magus, 
Meyerbeer,  Herbaut,  Houbigant,  Tanrade,  Mousquetou, 
Arnal,  Barrot,  Bonald,  Berryer,  Gautier,  Gozlan,  Hugo,  Hya- 
cinthe,  Lafont,  Lamartine,  Lassailly,  F.  Lemaitre,  Charles  X., 
Louis-Philippe,  Odry,  Talma,  Thiers,  Villele,  Rossini,  Rous- 
seau, Mile.  Dejazet,  Mile.  Georges,  etc. 

The  utmost  care  has  been  exercised,  but  some  few  errors 
may  possibly  have  slipped  in.  For  this  the  compilers  beg  an 
excuse,  as  all  has  been  done  with  sincerity  and  in  absolute 
good  faith. 


COMAdiE  HUMAINE,  581 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER  OF 

READING 

According  to  the   Periods  of   French   History. 

k  

Mr.  Jas.  B.  Russell,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  a  "confirmed 
Balzacian" — as  Paul  Bourget  would  say — suggests  the  fol- 
lowing "order  of  reading"  the  Comedie  Humaine. 

In  the  communication  accompanying  it  Mr.  Russell  writes : 

"I  found  that  the  same  characters  ran  largely  through 
them  all  [the  volumes  of  the  Comedie  Humaine],  so  I  took 
the  first  and  last  date  of  each  volume,  made  a  list  and  re- 
read them  .  .  .  the  chronological  order  added  a  new  charm 
...  it  is  the  only  way  of  reading  them,  because  they  are 
serial,  and  should  be  read  as  such — in  order.  Since  then  I 
have  read  them  for  the  third  time,  and  rearranged  the  order 
several  times  till  I  have  the  enclosed." 

The  reader  will  understand  the  "  ^/ ^z/. "  to  mean  the 
others  in  the  same  volume,  as  arranged  by  Balzac ;  and 
which  are  to  be  found  in  the  last  index  in  the  volume  en- 
titled "A  Prince  of  Bohemia." 

The  Revolution:  1789-99. 
I  The  Chouans. 

The  Consulate:  i 799-1804. 
(The  Vendetta.     A  Passion  in  the  Desert.) 


582 


CCMP^NDIVM 


The  Empire:  1804-1814, 
2  A  Historical  Mystery  {et  al.) 


1803-6 


The  Restoration:  i 814-1830. 


3  Father  Goriot 

4  The  Thirteen 

5  A  Marriage  Settlement  . 

6  A  Bachelor's  Establishment 

7  A  Start  in  Life 

8  The  Old  Maid,  and  the  Collection  of  Antiq- 

uities 

9  Cesar  Birotteau 

10  Pierrette,  and  The  Abbe  Birotteau 
IT  At  the  Sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket  (jet  al.^ 

1 2  Lost  Illusions  (including  A  Distinguished  Pro- 

vincial at  Paris)  . 

13  The  Harlot's  Progress  (2  vols.) 

14  Eugenie  Grandet 

15  The  Peasantry 

16  Les  Employes  (et  al.') 

17  Modeste  Mignon 

18  Letters  of  Two  Brides 


1813-20 
1818-19 
1821-28 
1804-30 
1823-30 

1822-25 
1810-20 
1827-30 
1819 

1819-23 
1823-30 
1816-27 
1823-26 
1824-30 
1826-30 
1823-27 


The  ''July"  (Orleans)  Dynasty:   1830  and  after. 


19  Ursule  Mirouet      .... 

20  The  Lily  of  the  Valley  . 

21  Albert  Savaron      .... 
A  Daughter  of  Eve 

22  Z.  Marcas,  The  Seamy  Side  of  History 

23  Beatrix 

24  The  Deputy  for  Arcis     . 

25  The  Middle  Classes 

26  The  Country  Parson 


.  1829-36 

.  1825-30 

.  1834-38 

.  1833-35 

.  1836-38 

.  1839 

.  1840 

.  1802-44 


/ 


COMilDIE  nUMAINE. 


583 


27  Cousin  Pons 

28  Cousin  Betty 

29  The  Firm  of  Nucingen  {et  al?). 

30  Honorine  {et  al.^. 

31  The  Country  Doctor. 

32  Gaudissart  the  Great  (<?/  «/.). 
^^  A  Second  Home  (<r/  tf/.). 

Philosophical  Studies,  etc.,  etc. 


1835-46 
1838-46 


i^  14  DAY  USE 

'  RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY—TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


RECErVEP 


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LOAN  DEPT. 


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